Illusion
by KKrasher
Summary: Meet Hikaoki, Tricia, and Sakiris Kaiko. After waking up in the Hunter X Hunter world with no memories of their previous lives, they meet the Kelsi, a leader of a small group (rebellion really) part of the Kaiko clan. But before they know it, the life they once knew crumbles around them. Now with a new goal, Tricia steps into the entrance hall of the 287th Hunter Exam.
1. Introduction

**-Introduction-**

 **Hello readers! Welcome to the chapter 1 of "Illusion" XD This is my first fanfiction on Hunter X Hunter so sorry if any characters are OOC or if my writing is horrible (or cliché). Just to make things clear**

" " **means talking**

' **Italics' means telepathic talks**

 **Italics just means thoughts**

 **Sorry if that was confusing, I promise it will make sense later.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter. Only Tricia, Shiro and all my other OCs**

 **7/31/18: EDIT - Please note that I do have an OC problem and that this fanfiction will have plenty of OCs. I will do my best to fix majority of my OC and dialogue issues in this edit.**

 **EDIT - NOTE: The Hunter Exam starts on chapter 3.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Darkness.

That was the first thing that the 7-year old girl saw. Darkness extending all around her. Her origins, age, strengths, weaknesses, were all part of the same swirling darkness extending all around her. She looked up, expecting to be greeted by the abyss that surrounded her, but instead, she saw a soft glow.

A light?...

Slowly, Tricia opened her eyes in a daze.

A forest? Unfamiliar phrases floated through her head. A pile of silvery-white feathers stirred beside her, which she recognized as a draiknor. A cross between a dragon and phoenix. They reslembed a western dragon but with a semi-feathered cat-sized body.

' _Tricia?'_ Somehow, she wasn't surprised the draiknor could communicate telepathically. Although, the fact that she felt a bit weird and robotic might have contributed to that fact.

' _Shiro?'_ Tricia said, slightly startled when her draiknor's name just popped into her mind. ' _What's going on?'_

' _I don't know.'_ Shiro replied, unsure of the situation. Based on both muscle memory and her reaction, the draiknor seemed to be the smarter one of the two.

Looking around, Tricia noticed a girl with similar hazel unconscious nearby. Her silvery-blue draiknor was lying next to her, having yet to wake up. She also noticed that the girl had a tail and cat ears similar to her own. Something told her that they were Kaikos, a species similar to humans but had silvery-red blood and sometimes cat ears and a tail.

"Sakiris..?" It was rather useful when random terms popped up in her head.

Sakiris' blue eyes fluttered opened at her twin sister's words, taking in the scenery around them.

"Tricia…" The way she spoke gave the impression that she was surprised at what she had just said. "Where's Hikaoki?"

"Hikaoki?" It hit her with the force of a rock. There was something missing in the scene, Hikaoki, their older sister, age 9. Her draiknor was Angel.

 _Curse you ammensia for making my thoughts weird, it was really appreciated._ Tricia decided that she liked sarcasm.

"We have to find Hikaoki," Sakiris said with a note of confidence. Something inside of the hazel-haired girl told Tricia to trust her younger twin sister, not that sounded weird or anything.

Yeah, sarcasm is definitely the way to go.

The blue-eyed cat girl got up and her now awake draiknor, Yuki, trailed behind her, Tricia and Shiro doing the same, the former making random observations to fill up her empty and rather robotic mind.

 _I should probably start off this new life by making myself a personality_ …. the girl drawled on. _Lazy sounds fun. So lazy and sarcastic? Maybe mix some creative cursing in?_

The forest they had woken up in was a bright one, sunlight streamed through the trees, giving it a welcoming glow, but Tricia felt that something was off. The air was silent and there was no wind or birds flying around. Looking closer, everything had a somewhat teal-ish aura to it.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think of the words to describe the phenomenon she had woken up in.

 _Meh, being the knowledgeable type sounds boring. Shiro can do that for me._

Deep into her revere, Sakiris stopped in front of her, causing her green-eyed sister to almost crash into the girl.

"Do you see that?" Sakiris asked, pointing in the direction of some more trees.

"What?" Tricia questioned while steading herself.

"There's something purple over there."

"Huh?..." She said, concentrating on the spot Sakiris had claimed to see something. A faint purple glow, similar to the teal one that encased the trees. _Well look at that, there's radioactive smoke over there._

Tricia was taking a liking to her new personality.

Sakiris ran off into the direction of the purple aura.

"Saki! Wait up!" Tricia called while trying to catch up with her twin sister, breaking into a clearing. Something told her that running towards possibly radioactive substances were not a good idea.

Leaning on one of the trees was a nine-year-old brunette with strange tattoos on her left arm, she recognized her as her older sister.

' _Those look like some kind of seal or gate.'_ Tricia blinked. The sudden commentary from Shiro had startled her.

Hikaoki stirred. As soon as she opened her amber eyes, her gaze fell on her left arm, then on the forest around them. Tricia noted that based on her reaction, those tattoos had not been there before.

"Nee~san?" Sakiris said, seeing her older sister's confusion. Hikaoki visibly relaxed when she recognized her younger siblings.

"This forest is a Nen-created space." The older girl said. _That was what this phenomenon was._ Something told Tricia that her older sister was more of the strategy/prodigy type. "That means a couple of things. Number one: The creator probably knows whoever planted up in here due to a nen-created space's composition along with the clear usage of En, number two-" Hikaoki stopped once she saw Sakiris' clear confusion. "Anyway, Nen created spaces are usually fairly small, so all we have to do is walk towards the highest point of nen concentration using Gyo to find the creator."

Tricia confirmed her theory. Her older sister was definitely the prodigy type. Both Tricia and Sakiris let Hikaoki take the lead in finding the creator since neither of them understood what their older sister said.

"Did you understand any of that?" Sakiris whispered to her. "And what's Gyo again?"

"I'm not too sure," Tricia admitted, "But it has to do something with eyes."

"Huh…" The blue-eyed twin said in thought, "Since Hikaoki has those weird tattoos, maybe she's some kind of demon!"

Tricia mused at the thought, Hikaoki had seemed to have retained more of her memories than they had due to her lack of robot-ness. "Do you have any salt on you?"

"Yuki might."

"I can hear you guys!" Hikaoki called back to them, silencing the twins. "I'm not deaf!"

* * *

 **Hikaoki's PoV**

Around an hour later, Hikaoki found a problem. A rather large one in fact. Actually, it was more like an elephant in a room.

The concentration of nen was shifting around every fifteen minutes or so. At first, she had wondered if it was even possible to move that fast, but further thought and discussion with Angel had revealed something.

A Nen-user of this caliber could easily redirect the concentration of nen wherever he/she wanted, something like that would be child's play for someone who could create a realm so intricate that they could cram an entire _forest_ in it.

"Nee-san?"

"Yes, Sakiris?"

"Are we there yet?"

"No." Hikaoki sighed and parted a particularly large bush to let the group come through.

' _Hikaoki, someone's following us.''_ Angel suddenly commented. _Great,_ Hikaoki internally cursed, _And now we have a stalker._

' _Who is it?'_

' _I can't tell, the person following us is using perfect Zetsu but is not the creator. I'm only going off of telepathic energy.'_ Hikaoki remembered now, draiknors where part Specialists because they could communicate telepathically. They could typically communicate and sense a living creature's telepathic energy in that 800-meter area. The only exception was the Kaiko that you were bonded to, whom you could communicate no matter how far apart.

' _Tell Tricia and Sakiris to use Zetsu.'_

' _On that.'_ Hikaoki instantly switched to Zetsu the second she felt her younger sisters' Nen disappear. Just as she thought, they had mastered Zetsu instantly. So based on this, they did know Nen, but didn't remember it. Up until now, Hikaoki could think of 6 possibilities to explain their situation.

One, they were regular Kaikos from here and had most of their memories wiped.

Two, they are on some kind of infiltration mission and had their memories wiped to preserve secrecy.

Three, they were involved in some kind of plot and for whatever reason, had their memories wiped and put here to try to live a normal life.

Four, this whole situation was some kind of experiment that involved getting their memories wiped.

Five, we are being held hostage and had our memories wiped so we don't try to escape.

Six, everything was a coincidence.

Anything else that she could think up of where somewhere between the lines of those 6 reasons, or a combination of them. Having a stalker from this realm eliminated the possibility of them being from this realm.

Hikaoki sighed for the nth time.

Both Tricia and Sakiris were using Ten when she awoke, and they were able to attain perfect Zetsu without any guidance. So they knew Nen, but only subconsciously. If so, then why did she know about Nen? Hikaoki had a clear picture of a scythe that she could conjure too.

She needed more information in order to continue eliminating theories. First, she needed to find out who was their stalker.

"I happen to have realized that you've been following us for the past few minutes," Hikaoki said, turning around to face the well-hidden figure in the trees.

Their stalker froze.

"I would appreciate it if you came out now." Hikaoki prayed that their stalker would realize that it was three against one, and hopefully, he/she would be weaker than all three of them combined. If not, they were dead meat.

Responding to Hikaoki's request, a young white-haired girl jumped out of the tree she was hiding in. Immediately, Hikaoki was slightly startled. Their stalker was appeared to be _four_ and for some reason dressed as a shrine maiden with a blue hakama instead of red.

"Do you know the creator of this realm?" The brunette asked, starting a mini-interrogation. The white-haired blinked at the question but answered truthfully.

"You mean Kelsi-nee-chan?" Wait. If the girl standing before them was the creator's younger sister, how old was the creator? And how in the seven seas was the creator able to create such an intricate realm at such a young age?

Well, considering that the four-year-old girl had pretty much perfect stalking skills and leaped down from a tree without makes as much as a sound, she could _sort of_ see the child prodigy in the creator.

"Is she your sister?" Hikaoki continued, as making assumptions was a one-way ticket to death.

"No, but she asked me to call her that." Ohhh…. That made a lot more sense. Nobody asks younger kids to call them 'nee~chan' other than women in their 30s that are concerned about their appearance.

"Do you know where she is?"

"Yep! it isn't far from here, go back in the direction you came from until you see a moss-covered rock, go left, left, left, right, left, right, right, right, right, left, left, right every 10 steps. If you want I can bring you to her."

"I guess" The amber-eyed brunette decided. Even though Hikaoki wasn't exactly ecstatic about trusting a four-year-old stalker to bring them to the realm's creator, they really had no other choice. They could risk following her instructions but Hikaoki didn't really remember all the lefts and rights.

"Ok! By the way, my name is Killuko Zoldyck"

-Line-

 **Tricia's PoV**

Tricia didn't really know why Killuko was talking to her, though. It seemed pretty tiring to have to walk and talk at the same time, doing nothing sounded like a better idea.

During their walk, Tricia learned that Killuko had two 'scary' older brothers, an older twin, Killua, and a younger brother and sister.

"Okaa-san doesn't like Alluka though, she and Otou-san locked her up behind these giant metal doors and refused to let her out." Tricia thought that Killuko's family was a bit weird, especially the bit about having a dog. Dogs were loud and needed to be walked. Saying inside a house all your life with servents sounded really nice though, she wondered if you could sleep in all the time.

' _Still, I think that we should be cautious around Killuko. Who knows who she might be?'_ Commented the ever paranoid Shiro.

' _Whatever,'_ replied Yuki, ' _I want to eat something.'_

' _We could be walking into a trap right now.'_

' _The weather is nice today.'_

' _Yuki.'_

' _The clouds are fluffy too.'_

' _Really.'_

…

' _I want to eat something.'_

Also, listening to Shiro and Yuki's conversation was very entertaining.

"Hello?" The green-eyed cat girl snapped back into reality at the sound of Killuko's voice.

"Oh, sorry Killuko, what were you saying again?"

' _Didn't I tell you to be cautious around Killuko?'_

' _I said whatever Shiro. *yawn* Oh look! A leaf! Now I wanna sleep.'_

"Oh, yeah, I was talking about Sakurami! She's my friend's draiknor and is currently flying above us now.' Tricia glanced up, there was a pinkish white dot moving around in the sky. "She's just surveying the place, checking minds, that kind of stuff."

"Wait," She wasn't so sure if she had heard the right thing, "checking minds?!" This place was starting to feel like some kind of fantasy world the more she thought about it. First giant dogs, wish granting demons, and now mind readers; what was next? Cannibalistic floating fish?

"Sakurami can read the state of someone's mind without direct contact. With direct contact, she can project and view some images and memories of that person. It's very easy to hide your thoughts from her though; Sakurami won't pick up on things that you were only thinking about for a couple of seconds or so."

"Oh," So that's why Killuko was following them but was fast to trust us. Sakurami would have picked up that they were non-hostile Kaikos, but Killuko still decided to follow us because she didn't know us.

Tricia kept following Killuko through the everlasting forest, losing count of the amount of twists and turns that they took. Eventually, the bright forest thinned out and widened into a large clearing around the size of a football field. Waiting for them was a teenage girl. Her caramel-colored hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and something about her made Tricia uneasy; It might have been that her teal eyes dug into her's.

"Nee~chan! These are the people Sakurami told you about."

Needless to say, Hikaoki was very surprised.

-Line-

 **Hikaoki's PoV**

First, a 4 year-old stalker-assassin dropped out of a tree to tell her that she had been walking around in circles for almost and hour.

Ok, that madness she could accept.

Then, she was asked to follow the four-year-old girl around in a circle (A twisted one to be precise, but it resembled the number 8 more than a circle.) to get out of the forest.

Eh, sounds fishy, but okay.

The creator was a teen.

A teen.

A _teenager_ made a realm so large you could fit a football field plus more _and_ hooked up some kind of insane algorithm that made anyone walk around in circles unless they intentionally walked in a circle.

She could feel Karma laughing his socks off at her. So much for 'Nobody asks younger kids to call them 'nee~chan' other than women in their 30s that want to feel young.'

She was pretty sure Karma was texting Destiny something along these lines…

" **imao did u just c that"**

" **What."**

" **stupid cat girl just got a snap 2 reality"**

" **Oh."**

" **im telling god about this 2"**

" **That's great."**

#Hikaoki was so busy in her mind that she forgot to see what's going on outside of Hikaoki Land

"Thanks Killuko, you can take the rest of the hour off."

"Thank you Nee-chan!" Kelsi turned toward Hikaoki and her sisters. That's when Hikaoki snapped back to reality for the nth time already.

" **hah"**

"Rest of the hour off?" The amber-eyed brunette asked. Wasn't it 'day'?

"Killuko is part of a family of assassins," The other brunette explained, "She had some spare time after a mission so she decided to stop by to properly train for a bit." That still did not explain the 'hour'. "In other words, I'm feeling nice today so I let her do whatever she wants for the rest of the hour before she has to go back to her family and continue her stupid training."

"What kind of training?" Sakiris asked ever-so-incorrectly, (maybe?) not seeing the glare Hikaoki shot at her. Kelsi looked rather smug/satisfied. Oh god, why did she feel smug/satisfied?

"Oh, like, being poisoned over and over again so if you ever decide to be stupid enough to drink soda from a stranger you won't die, electric training to prepare you if you ever decided to become an electrician, that kind of pointless stuff. What kind of people value resistance and stamina over actual battle capabilities and reflexes? Now, if Killuko hadn't decided to become one of my students, she would have never learned nen or used her prodigy status to its fullest potential. I could go on and on about the amount of people that have flourished due to me, but that would take weeks."

So. In other words, Kelsi the most powerful/strong families, so Kelsi = the best available teacher if you want to get strong fast. She may as well have sticked a 100% guaranteed or your money/time back at the end of her mini speech.

"Oh, just to get introductions out of the way even though you already know me and I know you; Name's Kelsi Lukkel, age fourteen, and creator of this realm. How do you do?"

Hikaoki found Kelsi extremely suspicious.

(Someone by the name of Tricia was debating to respond with 'Dead' or 'Psychopathic')

"I'm not sure if Killuko has told you this yet," Hikaoki started, "But a few hours ago all six of us woke up in your realm with no memories. Do you happen to know anything about our situation?"

"I don't know where you came from." The realm creator answered, disappointing Hikaoki, who was back at square one. "But it is possible that someone with Specialist abilities could 'edit' or 'glitch' my realm and plant you in here without me knowing. A teleporter could do the same, but I've never meet one much less invite one into my realm."

With that info, Hikaoki's already limited options were limited even more. It would take a miracle for her to be able to catch the person that had planted them her in this realm. He/She could have easily ran off in the time they had spent walking around in circles, so her best choice right now was to ask Kelsi to take them as students.

"On the other hand, I could take you three as students, on a few conditions."

Jinx knock on wood. Kelsi was a mind reader.

"First, there's an 80% tax rate on all of the jobs you take." Hikaoki choked on herself, along with Tricia (Sakiris was busy asking her twin what taxes were). 80 percent! What were they supposed to live off of? 50 cent burgers?

"Second of all, Tricia and Sakiris, could you please find Rina for me? Killuko and Sakurami should know where she is. Tell Rina to check Area 16 again."

Tricia briefly remembered Rina as Sakurai's Kaiko and a good friend of Killuko. While she found Kelsi separating them from Hikaoki suspicious, Tricia couldn't argue, seeing how Sakiris jumped at the opportunity to see a friend.

"Sure!" The blue-eyed Kaiko responsed excitedly, running off to find the white-haired girl. Tricia trailed after Sakiris, albeit rather reluctantly. Kelsi waited until the two were out of sight before continuing with what she wanted to say.

"Actually, It's possible that I know what your situation is, but I'd rather only you hear it."

"Okay." The brunette responded rather cautiously, Hikaoki could feel her mind going into stealth-mode, zoning in her senses and keeping them on high-alert.

"Does the name Dexter ring a bell?" An interrogation? Hikaoki felt a twinge in her brain as if it was something important, but it had been to thoroughly erased.

"No." Her instincts told her to answer untruthfully. Whoever Dexter was, he or she was important.

"This is just mere speculation, but neither Tricia or Sakiris know about nen, right?"

"Yes."

"Huh," Kelsi started, "Going off of one of my friends who can erase memories, I'd say this. You were the main subject of of your situation and your sisters came with you so you wouldn't feel that that something was off. The more involved something is in your life, the harder it is to forget, especially habits or routines. For example, it would be more difficult to forget that you always wore a watch on your left hand than, let's say, the fact that one of your superiors was a cannibal."

"Okay…" Even now, Hikaoki could tell that Kelsi was a bit eccentric. After all, what kind of teen used cannibals as examples for 9 year-olds?

"Do you know your Hatsu?"

"Yes." She still had a picture of the triple hooked scythe in her mind.

"Can you use it without killing someone?" Ok, strange question, but a valid one nonetheless.

"Yes." Unless the presence of a scythe would cause her to commit homicide, then no.

"Then go ahead." Hikaoki then kind of muscle/nen memory guide her through the steps of conjuring the scythe, first gathering the necessary nen in her left hand, shaping it into the weapon, and then poof, 8 pounds of scythe.

Said scythe had a total of three black blades, the main blade, a shark-fin shaped blade right on top of the pole, and one bladed hook on the back. There was also a thick golden band where the pole connected to the blade of the scythe.

So far, figuring out her abilities was a lot like playing a game without knowing the controls, something you had guess around and follow your gut. The tattoos seemed to be holding back some kind of spirit that wanted to come out.

So… Hikaoki then did what every single sane person would do. Which was releasing the seal (probably) holding a demon.

Black tendrils immediately curled up her arm and halfway up her scythe. Freaking out, she instantly put back the seal on that spirit.

"Oh," Kelsi observed, "Your arm is probably hosting some kind of strange spirit-thing. I'm not too well-versed in these kind of things, but I know someone who can give you a possible lead." Huh… Then the first course of action would probably be to meet that person. "His name is Takuya, I know that he has several contacts in the black market that might have more information about your spirit. If not, then you may as well befriend him anyways since in a couple of years he'll have majority of the black market under his control." Wait. What? How in the world did a fourteen year-old have those kind of contacts?!

Kelsi pondered on something for a bit. "Huh, how old are you?"

"Nine, most likely." What did her age have to do with anything? The creator paused and inwardly maniac-grinned when she realized something.

"Takuya's two years older than you."

...Hikaoki had never felt so _done_ with the world.

 _I hate child prodigies._ That wasn't even considering the fact that Kelsi was most likely trying to pair them together. They were _nine and eleven_ for god's sake. Teenage hormones should go die in a hole.

Now that she was thinking about it, what were her little sisters doing?

* * *

 **Sakiris' PoV**

Left, right, right, left, right, left, left…

Did she have to make a right here? Sakiris really didn't know. All she knew was that her instincts told to her make a right. So right it was.

Right, left, right, right…

As they ran, Sakiris could somehow feel them getting closer to Killuko. She wasn't sure how it worked, but there was some kind of sense in her pointing her north-west. The closer she got, the more the points seemed to line up.

' _I sense Killuko!'_ Yuki said randomly.

"Tricia, Yuki says that Killuko's nearby!"

"Shiro says so too, Killuko is within 100 meters. She's…" Tricia let Shiro fly around for awhile. "around 75 that way." She pointed west. Both sisters went after Killuko, this time Tricia in the lead.

Sakiris noticed that the farther they ran, the more worn the path they were taking got. Where ever Killuko was, it was commonly used. Momentarily, they spotted the assassin next to a large crystal.

"Killuko!" The white-haired girl turned around at Sakiris' voice. "Kelsi asked us to find Rina for her and to tell her to check Area 16 again."

"Oh! Rina's outside of Kelsi's realm right now. I was about to visit her." Oh! That made more sense. The Areas must have referred to segments of land outside of the realm. On the other hand, the weird crystal Killuko was standing next to intrigued the blue-eyed Kaiko.

"What's the crystal behind you?" Sakiris asked. "Is it a teleporting crystal or something?"

"It is. Nee-chan's been playing The Legend of Zelda and designed the realm like an RPG."

"Oh!" Sakiris knew what an RPG was! RPG standed for Role-playing game. "So this realm is like a MMORPG!"

"I guess?" The albino replied, confused on why Sakiris knew what an MMORPG was. She had only known because Kelsi told her. "To get out of this realm, use your nen and a password to teleport."

With her nen, Killuko began to write the numbers "2490" on the crystal. A flash of light later, the three of them appeared in a forest. Now that Sakiris thought about it, she had felt Killuko's nen reach out to her right before the flash.

Kelsi really was a prodigy in nen, being able to create large realms and a system of portals without much visible strain. Sakiris absentmindedly wondered if Hikaoki could do something like that.

"I contacted Rina a while ago. She should be here soon."

Just by watching Killuko, Sakiris could tell that both of them still had a lot to learn; Even Killuko could do things and plan more efficient than her or Tricia.

Taking in more of her surroundings, Sakiris noticed that the three of them had appeared next to a cherry tree in full blossom. Strangely enough, there were colored pebbles under the tree.

"Killuko, seriously?" A panting raven-haired girl said while breaking into the clearing. "I can't run as fast as you think I can!"

"But you got here faster than I thought you would."

"(mix of sigh/gasp/look of horror)*. Rina adjusted her gaze to Sakiris and Tricia, trying not to look like a panting mess. (Which she was, of course.) "You're Sakiris and Tricia, right?"

"Yep!" Sakiris responded. "I'm Sakiris if you were wondering who was who." Other than Tricia's green bandana and their eyes, both of them were identical. "Kelsi told me to tell you to check Area 16 again."

"...That's the fifth time this week." Rina sighed. "Those werewolves should really target someone else."

"Werewolves?" Sakiris asked. Were the werewolves going to attack the them?

"They're after our Kaiko blood because of its ability to heal anything except water serpent poison. There's was an incident there so Kelsi's been paranoid and keeps sending me to check Area 16."

"Just wondering, why does Kelsi send you instead of someone else?" Tricia asked. To her, it seemed strange that Kelsi would send an eight-year-old instead of someone else.

"How to I put this…?" Rina trailed off, "The main body of the Kaikos is lead by an Elder named Naedir, but Kelsi hated his guts so she formed her own sub-group. Naedir-sama allowed Kelsi's group of followers to exist as long as her group would manage the border patrols. I happen to be one of the few sensors in the entire Kaiko clan." So that was how it was.

"Huh," Killuko started, "Hey Rina, do you think Tricia and Sakiris could take the Hunter Exam with us?" Rina paused for a second, considering the idea.

"Hunter Exam?" Sakiris asked. Killuko looked more than happy to explain.

"After you pass the Hunter Exam, you become a Hunter and get to do all sorts of things. The Exam in difficult though, so Rina and I were going to take it together. If you and Tricia take it with us, the chances of us passing are much higher."

"To put it simply," Rina explained, picking off where Killuko left off "With a Hunter License, most transportation is free and you get access to all sorts of information."

The assassin continued, "I want to become a Hunter because I don't want to become an assassin. Rina wants to become one so she can gain find information to find her younger siblings."

 **AN: I know it's weird but I'm swapping to Tricia's PoV so this scene makes more sense.**

 **A quick swap to Tricia's PoV**

"Wait, You get access to information that isn't normally available?" Tricia asked. If Rina had been correct, if she became a hunter, she could get access to special information. "Special information" might include clues on what had happened to their memories.

"Yep, as a hunter you have access to a hunter's website that has all sorts of information." Rina answered.

"Huh," Right now Tricia had a much more clear idea of their next plan of action. Sakiris and her would train with Killuko and Rina to develop their Hatsus. In a few years, they would take the Hunter Exam. After passing the test, they would probably just laze around and take the odd job here and there every once in awhile, after Rina found her younger siblings of course.

Wait a minute, something was off.

' _Now that you do mention it, it is abnormally quiet.'_ Shiro noticed.

"Sakiris," It dawned on her, "Where's Yuki...?"

"What do you mean-I DON'T SENSE YUKI."

' _*internal telepathic panicking* WHERE IN THE SEVEN WORLDS IS YUKI.'_

"I think she ran off to chase a leaf or something." Sakiris offered.

"Knowing Yuki, it's probably more like a squirrel."

"But squirrels are for dogs!"

Killuko and Rina just looked at each other in confusion.

"How do you lose your draiknor…?"

* * *

 **I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. ;3 Dunno why but in my mind Hikaoki is like a independent Lelouch (First Season) and Angel is C.C. only that they trust each other more and Angel's not handing out Geasses.**

 **Geasses? Geasss? Geai?**

 **Please leave any kind of review/criticism because I seriously how no idea of what I'm doing!**

 **A huge thanks to my beta'r that took the time to read this atrocity that is the product of my otaku/fangirl-ness.**

 **Next chapter will start in Kelsi's PoV, and be a lot shorter than this one so a speedy update is guaranteed.**


	2. Five Years Later: A Change in Plans

**Hello readers! Sorry about the late update (and the abnormally short chapter, not even 2k words) I ran into a mini authors block (a.k.a. I was just a lazy brat). Just to make things clear, this chapter is set three years before the beginning of the Hunter X Hunter plot.**

 **Titbit of info: Kurapika's clan was murdered when he was 13.**

 **Thanks a lot for reading up to here!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter. If I did the story would not have gone on year-long hiatuses and would not be released at a slow pace of 10 chaps per year... But we all know that's a lie.**

 **Here is chapter 2: Five Years Later: A Change in Plans**

 **TURNS CANON NEXT CHAPTER**

* * *

 **Kelsi's PoV**

Being a leader was hard. One week of being in charge of an entire clan had shown her that. No wonder Naedir had a few loose screws.

As most of the Kaikos had expected, the werewolves had eventually attacked the Kaikos. The size of the attack was off-charts compared to their previous raids, leading to the attack to be called a 'war'. Unlike most other wars, this one was no test of endurance and was more of a test of quick thinking and power. The battles that took place were usually decided in a matter of minutes and just as vicious and bloody. Each side had one goal, capture as many Kaikos as possible or to kill as many werewolves as possible and to destroy their supplies.

The Kaikos had ran on a system of ranks, which were decided on a person's ability to both lead a team and at the same time accomplish the most. Rank no. 1 became leader, No. 2 to no. 10 were the generals and so on and so forth. Kelsi had been no. 21, giving her the title of a leader of 12 (including her). There were a few exceptions were a lower rank would be appointed to a higher position but that usually happened when a Kaiko in a higher position gave up their spot to someone in the lower ranks because the position didn't suit them. Kelsi was thinking about appointing a council consisting of the remaining top 5 as she believed that all five of them working together would be better than just having her be the only leader.

Kelsi shoved through a stack of papers until she found the new list of the rankings that she had spent several days making.

Finding the next in line on a list of mostly dead members was an incredibly tedious task.

Then she had to re-rank the members because many had shown their true potential over the course of the war, making their previous ranking unfit for them. During the course of re-listing the members of the Kaikos, she had realized that the werewolves had been primarily targeting the higher-ups, which was why the title of leader had jumped down to her. Out of the previous 172 members, only 48 survived, making the survival rate only slightly higher than 1 out of 4. Kelsi sighed heavily as she read the list.

 _(previously 21) Kelsi_

 _(34) Takuya_

 _(29) Lennex_

 _(32) Karima_

 _(19) Keiron_

 _(44) Hikaoki_

 _(71) Ruki_

 _(62) Luna_

 _(53) Akiryuu_

 _(56) Masaru_

She skipped half a page.

 _21\. (161) Tricia_

What a coincidence, her old spot had been given to Tricia, the person who had jumped the most ranks during the war. If she remembered correctly, Tricia's nen type had been previously been conjuration but changed to manipulation. However, she had found a way to tweak her Hatsu, which had been conjuring mirrors and crystals to bend light and nen into directly manipulating opponents within range of her En.

Of course, there was a lot more to her Hatsu than just that, but Kelsi found Tricia's new version of her old Hatsu not only was that extremely risky but mentally straining as well. She would have to constantly imagine what her opponent was seeing and focus on the battle at the same time. Dividing your attention among two difficult tasks left a lot of room for error, but Tricia claimed that doing it wasn't difficult. She had also said that the best thing about her Hatsu was that her as long as the illusions were believable, her opponent wouldn't know she was using her Hatsu.

Before the war, the ranking list there had always had a silent line between those who could actually become leader and those who were good followers. The line was usually between no. 20 and 25, with it varying from year to year and with the few debatable members. Right now, Kelsi would _very generously_ say that the line would be between 5 and 6. Keiron was most comfortable as a general (he had been one of the few exceptions of a rank 19 being appointed to a much higher position) but when push came to shove, he could take the position as leader. Hikaoki rivaled her in terms of strategy, but she lacked the charisma and communication skills to become a leader.

"Kelsi, I've got the area report." said No. 8. Luna, who came in with a stack of papers and shut the door with her own spirit, Draikio. To others, it might seem rather demoralizing that no. 8 was a twelve-year-old scout, but said twelve year old also had the highest werewolf kill count and was rather vicious with two katanas.

Kelsi looked up at the looming stack of papers, which towered over the raven-haired prodigy. Not that it said much though; the girl was only 4'3". " I've never seen a report more than 5 pages."

"Well," Luna started, almost tripping over pieces of pencil and instant ramen on the floor. "It's a collection of reports along with some bills, paperwork, job requests of potential clients, along with serval death threats from the Zoldyck family."

"Can you give the job requests to Takuya?" Or maybe Hikaoki for that manner.

"He specifically said to mention that he had over 15 jobs to do in the next week." Darn, Takuya found out about her procrastination habits.

"Can you take them?" After all, Kelsi still didn't feel like finding Kaikos suitable for the individual jobs.

"I have several missions to do as well." The creator sighed. Welp, there went her second most useful member.

"Then see if you can get someone to check out Meteor City." Ever since Rina had been injured and unable to continue as a scout, it had proven to be nearly impossible to continue the Kaiko's nomadic tendencies. Although the entire clan could fit in her realm now, there were still plenty of things that couldn't be achieved in a nen-created space.

"Ok, I'll see if Takuya can spare some time." Luna dropped the stack of papers on the table in front of her. _So he has time to go sightseeing, but not missions?_ Kelsi's sighed in distaste at the loud noise the stack made when it hit the table, reminding her of the work that was in store for her.

* * *

 **Several Hours Later**

Later that night, Kelsi left her realm in favor of a deserted alley in Yorknew City.

The creator headed toward that particular alley, checking the time as she made her way around the busy streets and shops that were still open despite the late hour. Two minutes before the clock struck midnight, Kelsi came to a halt in front of the alley. Having reached her destination early, she waited for the remaining two minutes.

The clock struck twelve.

A dagger flew towards her.

"As sharp as ever, Kelsi!" A familiar voice echoed through the alley as the creator tossed the knife back.

"And as you're as rude as ever, Katsu!" She yelled back. A tall figure emerged from the shadows of the alley. Katsu's overgrown dirty blonde hair was tied back in his usual low ponytail, and Kelsi could tell that he still carried the same worn rapier under his cloak.

"Don't tell me that dagger actually caught you off guard." The blonde scoffed, knowing that such a simple trick wouldn't cause as much as a scratch on her.

"Typical of you to greet your childhood friend by almost killing her." Kelsi replied, ponytail mimicking her annoyed state, "And you still haven't cut your hair."

"I never got the time to." The swordsman shrugged.

"Cut it which your sword or something. Maybe with a dagger since you seem to have so many." Katsu replied with a smirk. Kelsi paused for a moment. "How's the search for your clan going?" She continued, changing the subject.

"Pretty well actually. I did some digging around the site, and guess what?"

"Just tell me already."

"Kurapika left the clan six weeks before the massacre." Kelsi resisted the urge to smirk, _He takes after his older brother…._

"Do you think you'll be able to find him?"

"I'm not too sure. I left when he was five so I'm practically a stranger to him. Also, everyone in the clan kind of erased me from the records because I kind of cut all ties with them."

"So many 'kind of's. You ditched the clan in favor of the outside world."

"That's one way to put it."

"Hn..." Kelsi trailed on, finally remembering the purpose of the meeting. "Oh yeah, I need you to infiltrate the werewolves as a healer. Just let yourself get caught or something and then work your way up." She estimated that the werewolves would come back to attack them in a few years or so. With only 48 members, they needed a spy to keep them updated on their movements.

Katsu stared at the creator in disbelief. "You want me to infiltrate a whole group of paranoid wolves right after a war."

The Kaiko leader shrugged, "Pretty much."

"You have way too much faith in me…."

"You're not my personal punching bag for nothing."

"True true…"

* * *

 **Somewhere under a cherry tree**

 **Hikaoki's PoV**

"Hey, Shadow, do you have anything to say?" Hikaoki

Her spirit gave no reply.

Hikaoki held her left hand up, looking the tattoos that covered her left arm.

"What did you mean when you said that I was the next gatekeeper?" the head of her spirit twisted out of her arm, staring at her with cold, calculating eyes.

"You simply play a larger part in this world than you think."

"Did you meant what you said before?" The amber-eyed Kaiko said, recalling their past conversations.

"You could have saved the ones that your dead younger sister called 'friends'."

"What do you mean?" Hikaoki said, sinking to her knees.

"You simply play a larger part in this world than you think."

"What do you mean?" She whispered. She looked at the stones that were placed under that tree, sneaking a glance that she would normally never let herself take.

"Killuko Zoldyck"

"Sakiris Kaiko"

"Shiro" They read.

And they were only 3 of the 124. 124 lives that she could have saved.

"What do you mean?"

* * *

 **PLOT TWIST**

 **^^;;;**


	3. Three Years Later: Hunter Exam

**Chapter 3**

 **Welcome back to Chapter 3 of Illusion ;3! I KNOW I KNOW. Haven't updated in a month. This chapter for some reason (a.k.a. I was being a lazy brat) took WAY longer than expected to write.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter X Hunter. If I did there would not be nearly as many hiatus.**

 **I present you chapter 2:**

* * *

 **Tricia's PoV**

 _So it's been eight years,_ Tricia thought. ' _Hey Yuki, Can you believe it took eight years to get here?'_

' _Not too surprised though, a lot has happened in between.'_

' _I know, right?'_

' _Then again it could just be that you're really slow."_

' _How life over in Meteor City?'_ Tricia said, changing the topic.

' _Absolutely miserable. You know, around two and a half years back, I thought that living in Meteor City was the best idea ever because nobody called the police when you blew up a few abandoned buildings here and there._

' _;;;'_

' _But now you have to fly for four hours into order to find someplace that sells Cup Noodles!'_

' _...'_

' _And that's four hours of hardcore flying! For original Cup Noodles! What happened to seafood and all the other flavors?_

' _Or you could ask Kelsi for the passcode to Kappumen.'_

' _Kelsi only lets me go every month or so!'_

' _Decrypt the realm.'_

' _Even if I manage to find out the password Kelsi will notice if I teleport to Kappumen because it's so far that it takes a lot of her Nen to get there!_

' _I'm going to pick up some Cup Noodles before I head back to Meteor City, so our stash should last you until then.'_

' _Okay! Hurry up and pass the Hunter Exam so we can feast on Cup Noodles.'_

' _I will!'_ With that Yuki cut the telepathic line (connection?). Tricia turned to focus on the Exam. So far, Tricia had made it to the Exam safely. When she came in, a green talking bean handed her tag No. 71. She had been shocked when she had seen Hisoka. Tricia had expected to see Nen users at the Exam, but not someone as strong as Hisoka (who was strong enough to be a member of Kelsi's Council). Hisoka's raw Nen wasn't anything to gawk at, but she could tell that it was his Hatsu and technique that made him a fearsome opponent.

Not too long after her arrival did she notice someone that caught her eye. A 12-year-old white haired boy walked through the entrance. _Killua Zoldyck_. The second she saw him, Tricia pulled the hood of her cloak lower. She had seen Killua once before. After she had gone to the Zoldyck family estate to tell the Zoldyck family about Killuko's death, Killua had stopped her on her way out to ask her something. Killuko had cut all ties with her family seven years prior the current Hunter Exam, so Killua must've only had, if any, vague memories of her. On the other hand, it was still possible that Killua still remembered what Tricia looked like. She still wore the same green bandana, but she had cut her hair after growing it out a few days after her visit to the Zoldyck family estate.

As Killua walked around aimlessly with his skateboard. Tricia was reminded of how painfully similar Killuko and Killua looked. Killuko had cut her hair so it just barely reached past her shoulders, which made it fluff up at times in an almost boyish way. Killua also had the same messy untameable hair as Killuko, but, Tricia could tell that he didn't know Nen. Seeing how talented Killuko had been, and that Killua had the same potential (from the looks of it), Tricia wondered why the Zoldyck family had still not taught him Nen.

"Yo! I haven't seen you around here!"

Tricia looked up to see who it was.

"I'm Tonpa, an exam veteran."

'Oh." said Tricia, mildly interested.

"It must've been difficult to get here, how about some juice?" _Oh, so this is what my sources meant by rookie crushers._

"No thanks."

"Really?" Tonpa said, a bit more skeptical this time.

"The last thing I'd do is take juice from a rookie crusher." Tonpa stared at her in shock, he didn't think that he'd be found out that easily.

"W-What? That must be some kind of mistake..." Tonpa stuttered as he slowly inched away. "I'll be on my way…"

* * *

 **Tonpa's PoV**

 _How did she know that I was a rookie crusher?_ Tonpa thought as he walked away from the cloaked teen. _Anyway, I don't want to be involved with her._ In his train of thought, Tonpa ran into a particular white-haired boy.

"Tonpa-san! Can I have some of that juice?" Tonpa blinked in surprise, he didn't think that his next prey would practically jump into his claws.

"Sure." Tonpa handed him a can (filled with laxatives). He watched as the innocent-looking boy practically inhale the juice. He wasn't sure how he knew his name, or knew that he was handing out juice, but never the less he was glad to crush his first rookie of the year.

"Thanks, Tonpa-san! I really appreciate it!" The white-haired boy said as he walked off. Tonpa couldn't wait for the laxative to take effect.

* * *

 **Tricia's PoV (An hour or so later)**

' _Yuki. What are you doing?'_ At this point, Tricia was thoroughly bored with the examinees that were at the site. Illumi had came a while earlier (freaking the heck out of her, she wasn't exactly expecting two Zoldycks at the exam.)

' _Nothing really, It's boring without you here. Hikaoki's gone on some kind of mission with Angel and Rina's scouting someplace with Sakurami. Don't mind me but I'm looking at the exam site through your eyes.'_ Oh yeah, Tricia had forgotten that Yuki had recently learned how to see through her eyes.

' _See anything interesting?'_

' _Oh! Three more examinees have arrived. Rookies by the look of it. A young boy with greenish-black hair that defies gravity wearing a backpack with a… is that a fishing pole? A young person around 16-17 with girlish blond hair wearing something that looks like what a Kurta wears, and a tall man in his mid-twenties wearing a cheap suit carrying a briefcase.'_

' _All the Kurtas died 5 years ago, Kelsi stayed at the scene to double-check.'_ Tricia knew what she was stating the obvious, but she had to ask Yuki.

' _I'm just stating what I see, ask the guy himself. He could be cosplaying or something.'_

' _Since when do people start cosplaying people they saw murdered on TV?'_

' _Since when do people start jumping off cliffs as a sport, deliberately wear things that choke you as a fashion statement, swim with sharks, and-'_

' _I get the point.'_

' _Good, because I was running out to crazy things that people do for fun.'_

Out of nowhere, Tricia heard a scream pierce through the air. Turning to look at the source of the scream, she saw none other than Hisoka at the scene. The victim's arms appeared to had turned into some kind of confetti. Hisoka was, no doubt, the cause of the loss of the examinees' arms.

' _Speaking of that, Hisoka just turned someone's arms into flower petals.'_

' _People really do have interesting hobbies.'_

' _That's beside the point, Hisoka's a Transmuter. I didn't sense him activate his nen when he turned that guy's arms into confetti. His Nen ability is Bungee Gum and Texture Surprise. No combination of those two could've done that.'_

' _If you didn't sense him you Nen, then he must've done something else. Can't you use Gyo?'_

' _If I use Gyo, he'll notice that I'm a Nen user. Even if I use In, there's no doubt that an experienced Nen user like him would notice one of the audience's presence went missing. He'll then use Gyo to find me. If I dispel Gyo quickly enough, he'll notice that again and confirm that one of us is a Nen user.'_

' _Use your Hatsu!'_

' _I need to touch him with my Nen the entire time I'm manipulating him. Illumi's a Nen user too, I can't manipulate both of them at the same time, and there's the possibility that there is another nen user in the crowd.'_

' _Oh, I forgot about that part of your Hatsu.'_

' _We'll have to just leave it at that.'_

* * *

Not too long after the incident with Hisoka happened, an alarm signaling the start of the Hunter Exam went off.

' _It's about time the exam started.'_ Yuki commented.

The minute the alarm went off, one of the walls in the exam site began to shake a bit. The same wall was then lifted up like a garage door to reveal that behind the wall, was an extremely long underground tunnel that extended farther than Tricia could see. Right behind the wall was a man with no mouth and a mustache that connected to his nose carrying the alarm that had gone off. Trica assumed that he was the first phase examiner because of several things. One, It was clear that he was a Nen user and was no amuatar in that field. Two, reading the situation right now, there was no other explanation other than that he was the First Phase examiner.

"I apologize for the wait. The entry period for the Hunter applicants has ended. The Hunter Exam will now begin!" The examiner said. Tricia couldn't help but notice that his mustache moved in sync with his words.

' _He has no mouth. Maybe he has a Hatsu similar to yours and made his mouth look like his mustache.'_

' _Yuki, why would someone develop their Hatsu just to make their mouth look like a mustache?'_

"A final caution. If you are short on luck or ability, you could very well end up seriously injured or even dead. Those who accept the risks, please follow me. Otherwise please exit via the elevator behind you." Tricia looked around at all of the applicants. As she expected, nobody moved. The people who had actually made it to the exam site (versus the ones that failed pre-exam) had at least some kind of confidence in their own abilities to at least take part in the first phase.

How many would actually pass the first phase, however, was a different story.

"Very well. All 404 applicants will participate in Phase One."

' _I guess that guy dropped out because he no longer has arms.'_

As soon as the examiner had confirmed that no one had decided to opt out, he turned around and began walking down the extremely long hallway.

' _Dunno if it's just me or does he walk really weirdly?'_

' _It's not just you, there's definitely something wrong with the way he walks.'_

The way the examiner walked, was definitely strange. He walked in a certain matter that slightly resembled some kind of stickman with really stiff arms and legs.

"Of course, no one turned around and left. I'd hope a few might withdraw." Tricia turned to the source of the sound. It was the guy in the cheap suit that Yuki had mentioned earlier. She shifted her attention to Satotz, who was now 'walking' at a faster pace. Tricia internally swore when she had to run in order to catch up.

"Wh-What?"

' _Seems like Mr. Money is surprised at the change of pace.'_

' _So his nickname is Mr. Money?'_

' _Yup.'_

"The people in the front started running." said the fishing pole carrier.

' _The greenish-black haired boy is going to be Newton-_

"He's picked up the pace." the Kurta cosplayer noted.

' _aaaannnnnd Mr. Obvious over there is going to be Scarlet.'_

' _You're getting more and more creative with your nicknames, Yuki.'_ Tricia mused.

' _Practice makes perfect! I got Mr. Money from his cheap suit. Newton from the boy's hair, and Scarlet because of the Kurta's eyes and as a bonus, Scarlet is a girl's name!'_

"I neglected to introduce myself. I am Satotz, the Phase One examiner. I shall lead you to the exam's Second Phase."

' _Darn! just when I was about to give Satotz a nickname he had to introduce himself! I was debating between Stickman and Mustache Pole.'_

' _Wait… did I just hear Mustache Pole?'_ Mustache Pole had got to be one of the most absurd nicknames Yuki had given to anyone, right up there with 'Boom Boom the red-faced human' and 'Stabby Hands'

"Second Phase? What about Phase One?" Said some bald ninja with the number of 294.

' _Now, what should his nickname be? Err… 'Baldie' is too obvious...'_

"It has already commenced."

' _So… Tricia. Do you think 'Princess' would be a good nickname for him because of his eyes?'_

"It's already begun?" The crowd murmured.

"This is part of the test?"

' _Notice the mood Yuki. By the way I think 'Princess' is a wonderful nickname.'_

"You must follow me to Phase Two. This is the exam's First Phase." Satotz said with his wiggling mustache.

' _Ok!_

"Follow you? That's it?" Princess inquired.

"Yes. I cannot tell you where or when you must arrive. You need to follow me."

"I see how it is." Scarlet realized.

"This test is weird." Newton commented.

' _So is your hair.'_

"I expect it's an endurance test. Fine by me. I'll be right behind you!"

' _Oh, Mr. Money… please stop making assumptions about things in life. You see, some things are not what they seem. Your suit for example. If a person is wearing a suit, most people will surmise that that person is rich because suits are linked to rich business owners. On the other hand, take a closer look to your suit; people would realize that you could buy it in a street shop somewhere. Which is the reason for your nickname! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!'_

Tricia made a mental note to stay on Yuki's good side for the rest of the Exam. Her evil cackling was making her head hurt.

' _Yuki, He can't hear you. You happen to be communicating telepathically and haven't connected him to your mind yet.'_

' _Yet, Trica, yet. That's the keyword. Yet.'_

"Bipolar draiknor." Tricia muttered under her breath. "Scary yet annoying."

' _Hmm? Tricia?'_

 _Passively aggressive._ Tricia shuddered. _I would hate to be the target of her ranting._

' _Helloooooo. Anyone home?'_

' _Yuki, I know this is sort of cheating but can you go on Kelsi's black market website and figure out how long this tunnel is? Normally I would use focused En but with Hisoka and Illumi here, I can't.'_

' _Focused En? What was that again?'_

' _Normally when a nen user uses En, it takes the shape of a sphere. Focused En is the same as En but instead, you manipulate the shape of it in order to 'focus' on what you are looking for. Most of the time, you would use focused En to find the length or depth of something by making your En into a shape of a thin cord and extending that. If someone had the En of, let's say, 30 meters, and amazing nen control, mathematically they could probably do a 4 inch focused En of 13900 kilometers.'_

' _*Spits out nothing (cause she's not drinking or eating anything)*'_

' _But, we have to take in consideration that Nen would get more difficult to control if it was that far away. So, physically they should be able to do a 200 kilometers. Take what the person would be able to do mentally and that number would dwindle down to 30k. Focused En is more on mental strain and nen control rather than your nen capacity.'_

' _Ok, so how do I check Kelsi's website?'_

' _I have a flat silver piece of metal in my room called a 'laptop'. You can open it hamburger style. Remember?'_

' _Oh yeah… that sophisticated piece of human technology. I remember now. You press the donut with a line through it to make it light up. Use the flat dent in the metal to make the arrowhead move. '_

' _Yes Yuki. Then you tap the dent when the arrowhead is above the word 'search'. When the word 'search' dissappers hit the black keys to spell out ' ticket946720/Hunter-Exam/First-Phase'_

' _Yep… I'm pulling up the map right now… Oh. It's encoded.'_

' _Can you hack it?'_

' _Yah! The Amazing Hacker, Yuki, can do it!'_ It was something that Tricia could never understand. Yuki, who could barely figure out how to open a laptop

' _Ok, remember to erase the search history even though Kelsi probably knows that I hacked into her computer to get the url.'_

' _I love the fact that you can get into the amazing Kelsi-sama's computer.'_

' _Kelsi curses my existence for being a better hacker than her. At least when it comes to stealing her prized black market urls, which is actually quite easy once you take apart her hard drive.'_

' _I know… there was that one time where she decided to put the info in your laptop but you figured it out because you were wondering why you couldn't find anything on Kelsi's computer.'_

' _Back then Kelsi didn't know that I got into her main accounts. Now she's encoding everything.'_

' _Can ya plz get her bank account next? I there's a new limited edition Cup Noodle flavor out and I want it.'_

' _What's the new flavor?'_

' _It's 'Tropical Flavor' from what I've seen it has pineapple and shrimp.'_

' _Order 10 bulk cases and take it out of our savings because I really want to try it too. I'll hack Kelsi's bank account to get back the money.'_

' _Ryokai! Cup Noodles here I come!'_

' _Back to running god-knows-how-many kilos…'_

' _Don't worry, this is just like the time you had to chase down the serial killer with the purple knives.'_

' _I was speed/nen running the 147 kilometers so it only took 3 hours… and after that, I could barely fight properly. '_

' _Don't worry! You aren't using Nen this time so you shouldn't tire as quickly.'_

' _I just ran 20k to get here! Cut me some slack Satotz...'_

 **Fast forward two hours…**

* * *

Tricia wanted to die of boredom. At least when she was chasing people down, there was some sort of pressure to keep up with the chase. On the other hand, following Satotz through the tunnel was just tedious. From what she could see, nobody had even dropped out yet.

"Hey! Wait up, kid!"

 _Huh?_ Tricia turned to the source of the voice. She wasn't exactly surprised that Mr. Money was the cause of the outburst, and surprise surprise, there was Killua riding on the skateboard he was carrying around earlier. Now that she thought about it, Yuki had never met Killua since she went to the Zoldyck estate alone.

"Hmmm?" Killua responded as casually as ever.

' _Yuki, you probably want to listen in on this conversation. It's between Mr. Money and Bleach Hair'_

' _I'm in!'_

"You should show the Hunter Exam some respect!" Mr. Money said rather outraged.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you using a skateboard? That's cheating!"

Killua frowned. "Why?"

"Why…" Mr. Money seemed to be taken back by Killua's response. "This is an endurance test!" He yelled back.

"No, it isn't." Both Mr. Money and Killua turned to locate the source of the comment, would be none other than Newton.

"Huh? Gon! What are you saying?"

' _Oh… So Newton's name is Gon… *sigh* Darn it Mr. Money, if you didn't say Gon's name I could've kept calling Gon "Newton"… It was such a good nickname too…'_

"The examiner only told us to follow him." Newt- Gon continued.

"Who's side are you on, eh?" The older man said quizzically.

Killua slowed down to be face-to-face to Gon, who happened to be behind him.

"Hey, how old are you?"

"I'm twelve years old."

"Hmm…" Killua pondered for a moment.

"Huh?"

"Guess I'll run too." Killua shrugged. Killua then proceeded to flip his skateboard up and catch it mid-air.

' _I want to do that! Tricia, do we have the funding for a skateboard?'_

' _Unfortunately, like always, minus Cup Noodle expenses, we're broke.'_

' _Lol that sentence was so weird.'_

' _Then how about_ Total money - Cup Noodle expenses = 0.'

' _Make it negative zero 'cause we're that broke.'_

"Wow! That was cool!" Gon said rather unnecessarily.

' _My thoughts exactly.'_

The two boys ran in silence for a moment. Killua then looked over.

"I'm Killua."

"I'm Gon."

' _Why does this feel like some shounen manga?'_

 **1 hour or 15 Yuki days later**

* * *

"I won't except that!" cried some boy in the back with bird nest hair.

' _I won't accept that!'_

' _? You just repeated Farmer Fatty back there'_

' _I spent 3 hours decoding this site and and singing 999 bottles of beer on the wall guess what? Oh,_ _ **The server for this site is temporarily down, please try again later.**_ '

' _Oh god, I feel your pain.'_

' _*Eats Cup Noodles viciously while continuing to sing 999 bottles of beer on the wall* 783 bottles of beer on the wall, 783 bottles of beer! Take one down, we all die of overdose, 782 bottles of beer on the wall!'_

Tricia sighed, an annoying obnoxious kid with a laptop (a.k.a. Farmer Fatty) had been lagging behind enough that it had caught Yuki's attention (which was never a good thing).

' _782 bottles of beer on the wall, 782 bottles of beer. Take one down, we all definitely die of overdose, 781 bottles of beer on the wall!'_

On that note, both her and Yuki were extremely past the point of no return. She had never thought that the Hunter Exam would be this tedious/boring.

' _Yuki, can you do the fancy thing where you connect me to your senses?'_

' _Sure! Why?'_

' _If you watch anime while I'm sharing your senses then I'll be able to watch it too.'_

' _Oh yeah! What will it be, start something new or re-watch something?'_

' _How about re-watching Noragami or something?'_

' _OMG YES! THE OPENINGS ARE BOSS. PULLING IT UP NOW WE ARE BINGING THIS THING.'_

* * *

' _Are. Those, Stairs.'_

' _Unfortunately, yes.'_

' _Oh god Tricia, I feel so bad for you.'_

' _Don't we all_ love _stairs.'_

' _Why can't they have an elevator like they did at the beginning of this tunnel.'_

' _If I remember correctly, the elevator in the beginning went down 100 floors to get here.'_

' _So you're going to have to climb/run up 100 flights of stairs.'_

' _That is most likely true.'_

' _Tricia, it was nice knowing you.'_

Tricia had been running for around 5 hours when she had seen stairs at the end of the tunnel that seemed to ascend into darkness.

She wasn't the only one to notice the stairs in the distance. Murmurs of the upcoming change in terrain spread across the runners like wildfire.

Tricia, on the other hand, was just about done with the exam. First, she had had to run halfway across a country in a tunnel (where did the Hunter Association get the fundings and time to build a freaking tunnel for an Exam anyway?) Now she was going to run up stairs.

Satotz, of course, did not disappoint when the group reached the stairs. He continued to prance up the stairs, skipping several steps, like it was no big deal. In fact, after concluding that there were still too many people still in the exam, he increased the point where was practically flying up the stairs.

Yuki was not impressed.

' _Oi! Mustache Pole! A little break never hurt anyone!'_

' _I swear, not even Kelsi has done this before. Actually, I take that back. Kelsi does similar things except that she focus more on intensity rather than the amount of time.'_

' _*sigh* but at least we have Yato on our side!'_

' _Back to watching Noragami.'_

-Line-

 _After an hour or so, Tricia could see the exit of the tunnel.'_

' _OMG is that light?'_

' _*Tears of relief*'_

' _*Knocks over stack of empty cup noodles.*'_

The much smaller crowd that Tricia was now running with sharded her and Yuki's reaction. Not including Killua and Gon though, if anything, they seemed to be racing against each other rather than focusing on trying to not collapse on the final stretch. In fact, they finished right after Satotz.

' _How are they not tired?_

' _Dunno, maybe they're Satotz reincarnations.'_

Tricia ended up finishing around the middle of the main group. When she had come out of the tunnel, one of the first things she noticed was that the air was really moist. Number 2 was pointed out by Yuki.

' _Is it just me or is that Swindler's Swamp?'_

' _That explains why the air is so heavy. Then again let's hope that the Second Phase is somewhere around here. I really don't feel like running. Then again just about anything is better than running in a god-forsaken tunnel.'_

' _Ya.'_

Tricia really wished that she had worn something other than a cloak, out of all the things. Running in an underground tunnel with a cloak on was really hot. Now with the added moisture, it had gotten suffocatingly hot. It wasn't like she was stupid enough to take it off and risk being recognized by Illumi or Hisoka. She didn't know if Hisoka knew her or not, but she was better off safe than sorry.

' _Look! It's Scarlet and Mr. Money!'_ Both of the mentioned emerged from the tunnel, looking rather worse for worse, but definitely intact. Gon and Killua both looked rather happy to see that their friends had passed and went to catch up them.'

"The waiting period for the first section of the First Phase is over." As if on cue, the exit to the tunnel started closing.

"The Numere Wetlands, also known as Swindler's Swamp. We must cross through these wetlands in order to reach Phase Two of the exam. This place is home to many bizarre animals, many of them being cunning, insatiable creatures who deceive humans and prey upon them. Be very careful. If you let them fool you… …you're dead." Satotz continued.

' _There's still someone coming!'_ Indeed, one of the examinees was right at the mouth of the tunnel. He looked like someone that had been chewed up, spit out and then patched back together with duct tape.

"Wait for me…" The tunnel then closed on him, cutting him off. Many of the examinees were disturbed by this.

"As I was saying, these wetland creatures will use every trick in the book to fool their prey. An ecosystem in which creatures obtain food through deceit… Hence the name Swindlers Swamp. Stay very close to me so you won't be-"

"Don't him them fool you!" _What?_ Tricia turned around to the interruptor, an extremely beat up man that had just appeared from the side of the tunnel exit. Satotz looked rather annoyed by the constant interruptions.

' _Poor Mustache Pole, he keeps on getting interrupted and having the spotlight stolen from him.'_

"D-Don't fall for it… He's lying to you! He's an imposter! He isn't an examiner… I'm the real examiner. Look at this…" The "examiner" dragged out a creature that had Satotz's face but had fur covering the rest of his body.

"It's a Man-Faced Ape, one of the creatures that dwell in the Numere Wetlands! Man-Faced Apes love the taste of fresh human flesh. However, their limbs are long and thin, so they're quite weak. That's why they disguise themselves as humans. They trick humans into following them into these wetlands, where they team up with other animals to devour them. He intends to trap every single applicant!" Almost all of the exammies began to throw distrusting looks at Satotz, obviously trusting the guy. Tricia and a few others, on the other hand, knew that the newcomer was lying.

' _Does anyone else think the timing of this is rather convenient? Right in front of a Swamp full of deceiving creatures.'_

' _*Slurps Cup Noodles while still watching Noragami* I know right? Satotz had plenty of chances to eat us in the tunnel. Also, if he was a fake, why would he try to fail as many examinees as possible?'_

"You-" The fake examiners was cut off when three playing card embedded themselves in his chest. Satotz, being able to react in time, had caught the cards. Of course, they were thrown by none other than Hisoka. Tricia could feel chills creeping up her spine. Hisoka's stunt had reminded her that someone on Kelsi's caliber that was not on her side was standing right there. She had seen what Kelsi could do many times over, and every single time, she was hugely grateful that she was on her side.

"I see, I see... That settles it~ You're the real one." Forget about chills, someone was stabbing her with an icicle. "Examiners are Hunters selected by the committee to perform this duty without pay. Any Hunter, bearing the title we seek, would have been able to block that attack."

' _Well, that is true.'_

"I shall take that as a compliment. However, should you attack me again, for any reason, I will report you for turning on an examiner. And you will be immediately disqualified. Are we clear?" Satotz replied rather cautiously.

"Sure~" the joker replied rather amused.

' _One day I really want to fight him. If I can master a different version of my old Hatsu, combined with my current one, I'll counter him so well that he won't know what hit him.'_

' _You're right, you can deflect all his attacks and you already know his Hatsus, so you'll be able to figure out all of his tricks. All you lack is a good offensive ability. He won't be able to figure your abilities out because you can use mine and you can combine them in too many ways to count.'_

"He was attempting to confuse the applicants, to lure some of them away. You will be encountering such deception on a regular basis. I believe a number of you were fooled into suspecting my identity?" Satotz continued, after numerous interruptions. Multiple examinees started laughing nervously as they had totally fallen for the act _totally not_ including *cough cough* a certain cheapskate and princess.

"Do you understand? If you lose sight of me in the Numere Wetlands fog, you will never reach the exam's Second Phase. Do bear that in mind."

Silence filled the air. Tricia could feel the tension building up in the air.

"Then let us be on our way."

-Line-

As soon as Satotz finished making his announcement (and Hisoka's mini unofficial show), Satotz lead the group of remaining examies into Swindler's Swamp. A thick fog sat on the forest like a cat on a heating pad, not budging anytime soon. Tricia found this monstrously annoying. Her senses were heavily damped by the conditions that she was in. The fog, of course, greatly hindered her sight, and her hearing was affected by the added moisture in the air. It seemed as though the fog filled up the empty space with sound mufflers, along with the sound of 50 or so other examinees running close to her. Tricia could barely make out the occasional shifts in the ground after a batch of examinees were eaten by some creature.

Just to be safe, she kept a hand on her half-drawn wakizashi.

' _Hisoka's nearing.'_ Yuki suddenly declared. In situations like these, Yuki would keep surveillance of the area around Tricia and warn her of any upcoming enemies.

Tricia swore under her breath. Normally, in these conditions she would use her Hatsu to hide while the enemy passed. But right now that wasn't an option.

" _Which direction?'_

' _Behind you. Oh bleep.'_

' _What?"_

' _The telepathic energy of the people around him are fading. I can't tell if they're dead or unconscious yet because telepathic still lingers around after death. Knowing Hisoka its most likely the latter. Right now he's oozing bloodlust so avoid him because Kelsi would not be amused if you came back in more than one piece.'_

' _I understand.'_

Tricia pinpointed Hisoka's bloodlust to be around 25 meters behind her. As of that point in time, she hadn't had any trouble following Satotz, but that could easily change if she got caught in a prolonged fight with Hisoka.

' _Hisoka's only 15 meters behind you.'_

' _So much for trying to keep my distance.' How in the god darned world did Hisoka gain on me so fast?_ Speeding up was an option, but that would only attract more unwanted attention to herself.

' _Yuki, do you know if Hisoka has seen me before.'_

' _I don't know, the only reason why Kelsi knows him is because she was supposed to protect something he was supposed to steal. I'm pretty sure it ended in a draw or something. She said that the other guards had already came before they could finish.'_

' _That's strange, Hisoka doesn't seem the type to run from a few guards.'_

' _Takuya and Keiron were there, along with several other skilled nen users. He must've noticed that he was overpowered and fled. Maybe he could handle Kelsi, but not two other Council members along with her. Kelsi did some digging and found out the Hisoka's goal is fighter strong people, as simple-minded as that sounds. Specifically, he's aiming for a fight with Chrollo, the leader of the Phantom Troupe.'_

' _Ok.'_ Tricia turned her attention to Hisoka, who was now in view. Hiding was useless because she hadn't been previously using Zetsu, Hisoka would clearly notice a presence disappear. Her train of thought was cut off by a thrown playing card identical to the one that had ended the live a Man-Faced beast earlier. The card just barely missed, scratching the side of her face and hood before flying into the mist.

Tricia completely drew her sword and turned around to face Hisoka.

"Look at what we have here~"

Tricia remained poker-faced while mentally strangling Hisoka.

"A little kitten~" She didn't know if he was intentionally referring to the fact that she was a Kaiko or not. But he still pissed her off nonetheless.

Once again, Hisoka threw several of his playing cards archer. This time, despite the fog, Tricia was able to see the cards and fully dodge the cords.

"As I thought, you're quite skilled!" Hisoka said with a creepy smirk, with did nothing but give Tricia more time to observe her surroundings and notice that someone else was with them. It was none other than Yuki's favorite cheapskate.

Hisoka also seemed to notice his additional onlooker too, just in time to see a very angry charge out of the woods wielding a stick. Taking advantage of the momentarily distraction, Tricia dashed out of the battle taking place in the clearing. It wasn't until she could Hisoka's bloodlust ebb away that she let herself breathe.

' _That was a close one.'_ Tricia said to Yuki.

' _Tch, thank god for and his gang.'_

Tricia could see the main crowd of examinees up ahead. She was able to join and continue running the course.

' _That was really way too close.'_

 _-Line-_

The rest of the First Phase passed rather eventually. After a while, Satotz had reached a large gate at the other side of Swindler's Swamp. They were then told that the gate led to the Second Phase of the Hunter Exam.

' _Tricia! Want a Cup Noodle?'_

' _I would love too, but I can't right now.'_

' _I'm wating, for the three minutes right now. There's nothing to do… I'm bored… Why does it take three whole minutes to sook some Cup Noodles…'_

' _Stir them while they're cooking. That way they'll cook faster.'_

' _Oh yeah! Arigato!'_

Later, Hisoka sauntered in the clearing with an unconscious Mr. Money on his back. He put him down at the base of some tree and then went off to do his own thing. Tricia didn't bother to try and comprehend what Hisoka was thinking by saving, not to mention, carrying, his opponent.

A little after Hisoka arrived, Newton and Scarlet arrived at the scene. Initially, they were worried about their friend, but they quickly calmed down after seeing that Hisoka had left him in one piece.

"The waiting time for the First Phase is up. The Second Phase will soon begin."

The large gate that stood before the remaining examines began to open, revealing what Tricia assumed were the examiss of the next phase. A woman with five turquoise top knots wearing a mesh crop-top and impossibly short shorts, and a giant man, probably five times Menchie's size (possibly more). A loud rumbling noise, similar to a mini earthquake, shook the air.

"I'm hungry." Extremely Fatty stated.

' _Wait, that was his stomach growling?'_

"Then it's settled," The woman said. "The Second Phase will be cooking!"

* * *

 **DONE. I'M FINALLY DONE.**

 **For clarification, I wrote half of this in the past four hours of my life with the exception of a quick 5-minute break to grab some food.**

 **Ok! *Cracks knuckles* Time to announce the first reviewer of this FF, CuteFrog!**

 **Omg words cannot describe my reaction to your review. (I freaked out, to put it simply)**

 **CuteFrog: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LIKING THIS FF. I hope this chapter wasn't too weird/boring.**

 **I know I know strange reply to a review, just hope I get better *wink wink***

 **Please fav/follow and review!**


	4. Hunter Exam: Second Phase

**Welcome back to Illusion! I know I haven't updated in a month (me refusing to write this for around two weeks, them cramming it in as fast as possible) I like to keep the AN's short, ya know, because I'm lazy and just typed a up a whole chapter. For the excessive amount of telepathic conversations, I tried to make who was talking more obvious. Yuki slangs everything that can be slanged (ex: dunno for I don't know and kinda for kind of and ya for yeah)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter X Hunter, If I did I would not be writing this and instead be busy trying to get the next chapter of Hunter X Hunter out.**

* * *

' _You're dead!'_ Yuki commented a little too happily.

' _For the love of God. Cooking.'_

You see, neither Tricia or Yuki had ever set foot in a kitchen with the intention of cooking. The closest Tricia could get was putting Cup Noodles in a microwave because both her and Yuki didn't want to wait for the 3 minutes. 2 minutes later, they had succeeded in blowing up the very same microwave. The the other exception was burning some kind of substance over a fire and then salvaging the edible bits from the hunk of charcoal.

"The main ingredient will be pork, you can use any species of pig in the forest behind you."

' _Now that you do mention it, the forest behind us is different from Swidler's Swamp.'_

' _On the other hand, we are seriously screwed for this phase. Something tells me that burning it like usual won't cut it._

' _Yup, not even any of the boys would touch what we usually eat during missions without Cup Noodles.'_

' _Now that's saying something. I think Kelsi once put raw noodles and toppings in cold soup and gave it to them just to see exactly what they would eat.'_

' _Ya, I still remember it. Takuya commented that Kelsi should cook faster so the soup wouldn't turn cold and that was it. They kept asking why we were laughing like that though.'_

' _Hikaoki once told us how to cook meat after she saw how terrible we were at cooking. I'm pretty sure you pour some kind of reddish thick sauce on it and then stick it over a fire.'_

' _Something along those lines I guess.'_

' _I feel like we're something important though, then again, seasonings and sauces exist for people to make good food easily."_

' _What could be so difficult about cooking? Even Hikaoki can do it.'_

Unfortunately, not every examiner accepted the abnormal phase as easily as Tricia and Yuki did.

"I came here to become a Blacklist Hunter! Not some cook!" Menchi was visibly angered by one of the examinees' outburst.

' _Oh what a coincidence, Tricia here is a Bounty Hunter.'_

' _This is going to interesting.'_ Trivia noted, noticing Menchi's rather imitating bloodlust.

' _2 Cup Noodles that that examinee is dead!'_

* * *

15 minutes later, Tricia was making her way through a wall of foliage.

' _Sooo, we're looking for pigs_ _to murder_.'

' _Giant, carnivorous cursed pigs, assuming that they ate the meat on the bones that they were chewing.'_

' _I didn't even get to see Menchi kill the examinee, stupid fatty Buhara.'_

' _What are pigs supposed to eat anyway?'_

' _Dunno, probably stuff they scavenge like foxes or something.'_

Previously on Illusion, Tricia had found a clearing full of pigs. And like she stated earlier, they were chewing bones. The pigs then proceeded to chase the group of examinees close to her in a stampede. Thankfully, Tricia was able to avoid being run over by concealing herself in a wall of some leaf-branches-poison-ivy stuff. Now that she had gotten a closer look at the pigs, she realized that they were much bigger than she had thought they were. They were around the size of Bukhara and giant snouts that extended to the tops of their heads, covering the tops their forehead.

' _And that's the last of those cursed leaves.'_

' _At least you're still alive, Kelsi would still tear you apart if you came back in more than one piece after laughing her head off because you were injured by a pig.'_

' _Wow. Thanks a lot for the encouragement.'_

' _My pleasure, I'm just one hell of a draiknor.'_

' _You've been watching Black Butler.'_

' _Yes, my lady~'_

' _ **No.**_ '

Just in time, one of those 'giant, carnivorous cursed pigs' took the luxury of chasing our wonderful protagonist.

' _So, how do we kill these accursed pigs?'_ Tricia asked as she sprinted up a conveniently placed tree.

' _Just stab it until it dies.'_

' _How wonderfully violent and sacastic as ever, Yuki.'_

' _My pleasure.'_

"Their foreheads are their weak spots!"

' _Thank you Gon, for your overheard tip_ _that I totally did not place there just to save some time 'cause I'm lazy and don't feel like writing out an extra half page in math.'_

' _Well, now you just have to stab it in the forehead.'_

' _Why do you sound disappointed…?'_

' _I was looking forward to the gore…'_

Choosing to turn a blind eye to Yuki's comments, (also because Tricia was to clean her sword(s) later) Tricia simply settled for kicking the pig's forehead. The pig was immediately knocked out and dropped like a rock on the ground. Seeing as she wasn't exactly going to carry a Buhara-sized pig to the exam site, Tricia had intentionally left the pig alive so it could walk itself to its death place.

A while later, the pig woke up dazed, and extremely angry.

' _Why didn't you kill it?'_

' _I'm not carrying that pig to the exam site. It can walk itself there.'_

' _Well, not you can enjoy having a pig chase you all the way to the exam site.'_

The pig wasn't as fast as it was before Tricia knocked it out for a few minutes, so Tricia was able to lead the pig right to the exam site at a manageable pace. Right before they could be seen by the other examines, she killed the pig by ambushing it via a nearby tree. She then dragged the pig to her station where she was supposed to cook the pig.

' _Ok, so now I just have to put the pig on the pole and put it over the fire pit.'_ Tricia stabbed the pig through with a pole. Everyone had already succeeded in putting their pig over a fire so she hadn't thought much of the task. Turns out, it took more than one try to get the pin reasonably straight on the pole. "More than one try" meaning at least a dozen times. By the time Tricia had gotten the pig reasonably straight on the pole, not only did the pig look like it had gone through World War III, but Tricia's hands were covered in pig blood too. Tricia, of course, was not amused by this, unlike Yuki.

' _Turns out I still got the gore!'_

' _*sigh* Thank the seven skies that I rolled up my sleeves so they didn't get soaked in this blood. On the flip side, I'm going to have to clean this stuff before this gets everywhere and someone faints at the sight of blood or something. Then again, pig's blood seems lighter and thinner than a human's. Is that just me or something?'_

' _Wow Tricia! How rare of is it of you to talk so much!'_

' _Very helpful Yuki. Absolutely, amazingly helpful. I am astounded by your glory.'_

' _Now you're turning into a Hikaoki, that's no fun.'_

' _*sigh*'_

' _See? You've even mastered the Hikaoki sigh of disappointment. You are sisters after all!'_

Tricia didn't choose to respond. Trying to be productive, she proceeded to search the cupboards at her cooking station for anything that would be of use. Fortunately, there were sauces that Tricia and Yuki both spoke of. Unfortunately, as the narrator, I can tell you right now that none of them were fit for barbecue. You might say, there has to be something that could be put on barbecue. But all of them were in a different cupboard than the one she was currently searching through. Did Tricia or Yuki know? No, and neither did they care. (Watch and cringe in horror!)

' _Ketchup sounds fancy, doesn't it?'_

' _Yeah, anything that sounds exotic and takes awhile to pronounce is usually some kind of fancy sauce from a different country or something.'_

' _Fits your description of Hikaoki's magical barbecue sauce. Oh! What's that fancy looking stuff over there?'_

' _Horseradish, What do you think Yuki?'_

' _I say approved!_ _Oh! Maybe we should also but in some of that thing in the green tube too!'_

 _'It says 'Wasabi''_

 _'That sounds fancier than both Ketchup and Horseradish combined, so I'll definitely add some if I were you.'_

This continued for a bit until Tricia and Yuki had somehow succeeded in mixing up some kind of inedible substance to spread all over and stuff the pig with.

' _I should probably go clean this now sauce/blood mixture off my hands in a river somewhere. There was a river in the forest, right?'_

' _There was! I saw it all the way back at the vicinity of the pig knocking out stunt area.'_

Tricia quickly set the firepit on fire, then went to clean an unidentified inedible substance off her hands in the very river Yuki had mentioned. Yuki was watching the final episodes of Noragami now, Tricia couldn't help but sit down for a bit in the middle of the forest to watch an episode or two because that's a good idea. She then continued to search the area for said river. It wasn't until a while later that she found the river.

' _I swear, cooking is messier than bounty hunting.'_ No Tricia, you're just even worse than me at cooking.

' _True true,'_ NO YUKI DON'T SIDE WITH HER I KNOW YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THAT ' _Most of the time you just take care of the job with a little hallucinating and poison.'_ WHAT ARE YOU DOING, COMPARING COOKING TO BOUNTY HUNTING.

' _Though there was that one time 2 months back.'_ **AN: Sorry about the crazy narrator but I find crazy narrators really fun to write.**

' _Oh yeah! That one, he was really strong if I remember correctly. You had to go all out and even I had to step in.'_ Thank god, back to a reasonably normal conversation (by Tricia and Yuki standards.)

' _Not exactly a pleasant experience, for both me and the client.'_

' _Kelsi was hysterical, I think she charged the client double and yelled at him for purposely giving us false info on his profession and such._

'" _Oh, the target is just your average thug that just happened to steal something important." Hahaha, apparently 'average thug' means 'crazy psychopath that is too well-versed in Nen for my comfort.''_

' _He even was a Specialist! He was crazily flinging knives made out of nen to the point where illusions wouldn't work, all he had to do throw them at every possible place that a human could fit. I think you ended up having to use poison gas to knock both of you out and hope that your blood would wake you up faster than him.'_

' _Compared to that time, this is nothing.'_

' _That reminds me, do you know where Hikaoki is right now?'_

' _No, Last time I saw her she was busy running errands for Kelsi like usual. Also, it's really hot in this cloak.'_ Tricia shrugged off the hood of her cloak, constantly wearing the hood up through the exam had been insanely hot. Considering that the only real reason why she was wearing it was to make sure that neither Illumi or Killua would recognize her. She finished cleaning her hands and busied herself with checking her fingernails for dried blood.

' _Why are you so crazy about cleaning the blood off anyway? It's not like anyone will care.'_

' _Blood is easy to track, and also, it's just a habit.'_

' _?'_

' _Every now and then, some idiot Kaiko walks into a town forgetting that their clothes and hands are covered in blood. I strive to not be that idiot.'_

' _These are the times where I almost mistaken you for Hikaoki. Be open an feel free to be an idiot every now and then! You don't have to worry about that kind of stuff, we have Hikaoki baa~san for that kind of stuff. Maybe when you're older you can worry about not being an idiot.'_

' _I'm almost 16 you know.'_

' _That's in like, *mentally calculate dates with a non-existent calculator* only a month! So even more reason to not act so mature!'_

' _So I have an entire month to be an idiot, so why now?'_

' _Don't you get it, Tricia? You only have a month to get your own anime! You have to hurry up and mess something up and meet that person or stumble into the wrong realm!'_

' _Are you referring to the fact that almost all anime main character are 15?'_

' _Of course! Even a comedy would work! Like a Slice of Life or something. Then again, right now we are the polar opposite of what you need in order to have a Slice of Life comedy. Wait, maybe we get sucked into some kind of alternate universe and have to play some kind of survival game! We'd definitely win because, come on, we've got 8 years of Kelsi's training on our side. Or, plot twist, and you fall in love with someone and sacrifice yourself in order to save him! But then again, you're too boring to a part of some kind of romance. You can't even be a kuudere and you don't have a childhood friend…'_

' _I feel like we are missing something.'_

' _Really? I don't feel it. On the other hand, I got it I got it! You're the ex-assassin type!'_

' _Let's head back to the exam site, though I do have a bad feeling about this... '_ Tricia pulled up her hood once more, suffocating her once more. When she headed back, Tricia didn't notice anything strange until she broke into the clearing that hosted the exam site. Some people glanced at her, with mixed feelings evident on their face. She didn't know why until she saw her pig.

' _Assuming from the other examinee's reactions, our pig is not supposed to be on fire.'_

' _Food is food though, don't see why they should be worried or concerned.'_

Now, you might be wondering how Tricia would put the fire out, and I'll give you a straight answer.

Usually, they would let it burn until the fire died out. And usually they didn't bother with putting it on a stake, they just threw whatever they were cooking in a fire. But, have some faith in me. Their way of cooking is actually based off of how some people used to cook sweet potatoes. People would bury a sweet potato in the coals of a fire and after awhile, they would take out the potato and peel away the ash and skin and eat the middle. So Tricia and Yuki's methods were a lazier, much more extreme version of that. And no, I have not tried setting a pig on fire so I do not know whether or not it works, BUT, I do know that it is possible to turn any kind of food into charcoal.

ANYWAYS, I'm getting off topic, back to story.

How did Tricia put out the fire, you ask? Simple, she dumped ash on it. Why? She knew this was an exam so she wanted the pig less charcoaled.

Tricia then began the process of cutting off the charcoal off the pig in order to reveal the slightly less charcoaled, noncancerous bits of meat.

' _Yas! And that, mon soeur, is how you cook. No intelligence required, seeing as we can do it, and completely lazy people friendly!'_

' _When did you decide to learn French, Yuki…'_

' _Was? Ich verstehe nicht.'_ _ **What? I don't understand**_

' _German now?'_

' _¿Qué hay de español?'_ _ **What about Spanish?**_

' _然后，拿中国'_ _ **Then, take Chinese (said in Mandarin)**_

' _? How do you spell that?'_

' _You mean Chinese?'_

' _Ya.'_

' _You don't spell it.'_

' _Then how do people type it?'_

' _Ok, so basically there are 30 basic strokes in the Chinese language. Each character is made out of a combination of them, to put it simply. In order to type them, each key on the keyboard is assigned a stroke. When you write the characters, you have to form the strokes in a certain order. On a keyboard, you type the first and last stroke of the character you what and a list of characters that have that first and last stroke will appear. You then select the one you want and there you have it.'_

' _Wow, so complicated.'_

' _Why do you want to know how to type Chinese anyway?'_

' _Google translate, oh, by the way, where did you learn Chinese?'_

' _Kelsi knows a bit of Mandarin from watching Chinese-dubbed shows. It's a very complex language that can easily be used as a code. Also, it's nearly impossible to translate a written piece of Chinese unless someone knows the language. I picked up a bit here and there.'_

' _Oh yeah, with that kind of typing system it would be impossible to know which strokes came first and everything.'_

' _Yea- Wait. Google Translate?'_

' _;;;'_

' _Don't tell me you've been using Google Translate this entire time.'_

' _;;;;;;;;;'_

After Tricia finished cutting off the charcoal bits on the pig, she then put the now much smaller pig on a plate and like the other examines, presented it to Menchi and Bukhara.

"So," Menchi started, "this is the infamous pig that was ON FIRE for a good HOUR."

"Indeed it is." Tricia replied, feeling the edges of her doom crawl upon her.

"Explain yourself."

"I was busy doing other stuff, then got distracted.'

"For an hour." Menchi said in a tone of disbelief.

"That is correct."

' _We may or may not be screwed. Buhara looks reluctant to try your dish.'_

Well, Tricia did think that the pieces of meat did look less appetizing then something Hikaoki would cook. But then, she wasn't much better off than most of the other examinees, and judging by the number of plates behind Buhara, he has eaten everything the examinees had thrown at him.

Contrary of her prediction, Buhara took one bite of her dish, spit it out, and declared his first fail. Menchi didn't even bother to look at her dish.

"You fail, without a doubt." Tricia sighed, Yuki was not happy.

' _Humans are annoying and picky.'_

' _You can say that again.'_

' _Humans are annoying and picky.'_

' _You can stop that now.'_

' _Draiknors are not annoying or picky.'_

' _I would reconsider.'_

-Line-

The rest of the examines evaluation passed similar to Tricia's (except that none of the other examiners had failed the exam has badly as she had) With an exception of Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika (Tricia and Yuki had finally caught their names, Kurapika being Scarlet.) The first three attempted to pass by adding accessories to their pigs. Kurapika, being a bit more sensible, made the pig into some kind of meat sandwich. He even got Menchi to try it, before, of course, failing him.

' _Never really noticed it before, but doesn't Kurapika kind of look like Kelsi's healer friend?'_

' _Really? Dunno, Kelsi has too many friends to keep track of.'_

' _The blonde one with the really long hair who was around Kelsi's age. He dropped by a couple times after the war.'_

' _Now that you mention it, I think so. Wow Tricia, you have really good memory!'_

Something else that Tricia noticed was that Buhara ate and passed every single dish (the exception being Tricia of course) and every single time Menchi failed the examiner.

"Nobody passes," Menchi declared at the end, "You all fail."

' _Wow, a little harsh, no?'_

' _I guess I'll get my license next year then. I kind of wanted to polish up my Hatsu anyways.'_

' _Wait, there's an airship!'_ Indeed, an airship bearing the Hunter Association symbol on its side had flown into view.

' _Tricia, there's someone with a huge amount of Nen in there. Wait, WAIT. That's Ojii~san!'_

' _I forgot that you called Netero that…'_ Netero made his entrance by jumping from the airship and landing right in front of them, making a crater out of the place.

"Who's that?" Someone in the crowd inquired.

"The chairman of the Hunter Association, Isaac Netero." Menchi said, answering the examiner's question.

"Menchi, I think it is a bit excessive to fail every single examiner." Tricia did think that Menchi was being extremely unfair with the exam (it wasn't like every single examinee was going to be the world's best chef), what had really shocked her was that Netero had jumped from his airship at the precise moment, was Netero investing is hidden cameras?

"I know, one of the examinees insulted cooking so I got carried away and made the exam harder than necessary. I am unfit to be an examiner, therefore I resign."

"Hmm, but it might be a bit difficult to find another examiner on such a short notice. How about you redo the Phase, but this time you have to participate in the exam with them."

"Ok, then the new exam will be boiled eggs!"

"Oh, I see where you are going."

"Can you bring us to Mt. Split in Half in your airship?"

"Yes."

' _Gee, I wonder what it looks like.'_

' _Dunno, maybe split in half?'_

' _Sometimes I wonder what the people who name stuff are thinking.'_

' _I should go into that industry!'_

' _Seeing as you come up with some rather creative nicknames, I have nothing against the idea.'_

All of the examinees were asked to board the airship shortly after Menchi and Netero's conversation. Meanwhile, Yuki was complaining how unfair it was that the Hunter Association got an entire airship to themselves. While this was an already settled argument (not in Yuki's favor) Tricia couldn't help but agree with some of Yuki's points.

' _If the Hunter Association can afford an airship then Kelsi can give us more funds for Cup Noodles!'_

' _I don't usually like to take sides, but I have to agree with you on that.'_

' _What does Kelsi even use all that money for? I don't think your average young adult needs a monthly income of 10 billion jenny.'_

' _Keep in mind that Kelsi doesn't use it, she saves it up for our annual shopping spree at Yorknew…'_ You would be surprised at how fast 48 people could use 120 billion jenny, majority of the members only attended Yorknew to window shop, having no need to expand their arsenal. It was collectors like Yuki, Lennex, and Kelsi that were major spenders. Actually, Kelsi didn't really spend as much as you thought she would because she was really picky about her collection of weapons.

' _Oh yeah,'_ Tricia continued ' _that reminds me, I think you were listening when Kelsi was bidding for apparently one of the rarest Ben's knives.'_

' _Ben's knives? Oh yeah, those really rare and expensive ones. And that time;;; she's crazy! She walks into an auction with a starting price of 100 million, and immediately puts out a bet of 1.2 billion!'_

' _She tends to have an eye for that kind of stuff. I think later she told me that personally, she thought the knife was worth 2 billion, but no one at the auction really knew how OP that knife could be.'_

' _Oh look! It's a mountain that's split in half!'_ Outside a window, Tricia was able to see that Mt. Split in Half was coming into view. The mountain was once shaped like a normal one, but the top half had been shaved off so it resembled more of an oversized tree stump than mountain. Add a giant valley in the middle that almost reached the bottom of the mountain. Shortly after the mountain was sighted, the airship landed. Tricia and the rest of the examinees exited the airship, crowding the mountaintop. Menchi began by announcing their new phase in full.

"Your task will be to collect the Spider Eagle Eggs at the bottom of the valley." Tricia peered into the valley, and indeed, around halfway down, there were bird's eggs held together in bunches by some kind of spider-like string that were then attached to a net made of the same string. Above the net that held the eggs, was another net.

"What?!" someone from the crowd exclaimed, "How are we supposed to get down there and back up?"

Menchi answered the examinee's question by promptly jumping off the cliff.

' _Menchi's going skydiving'!'_

Actually, Menchi was not suicidal and had some sort of plan to not die and to get back on the cliff. Menchi, while freefalling, had grabbed the first thread net. After a while, she let go and grabbed one of the eggs while falling on her way to the bottom, a strong updraft lifted her up and eventually she was standing in front of the examinees once again, holding a Spider Eagle Egg.

"Every now and then, an updraft occurs in the valley. If you ride the updraft, you will be able to get back up here. Grab an egg along the way and you'll pass the phase."

Immediately, several people jumped off the cliff and grabbed onto the first net. More people followed them. Tricia followed after them, knowing that even if she did fall or miss the net (which was unlikely) it won't be the end of her since she could use Yuki's Hatsu, the element of wind. Along with everyone else, she grabbed the first net.

' _Wow! I can't believe every examinee who jumped down actually caught the net!'_

' _It kind of surprises me too, not your average could grab a net while freefalling.'_

' _Oh look! The net is breaking!'_

' _What?!'_ The net was starting to sag under the examiner's weight, the ends of the net were starting to come off of the sides of the valley.

"Gon? Is it time?" Killua asked God, who seemed to be waiting for some sort of sign of the updraft.

"No, just a bit longer." By then, some of the examines had decided to let go, believing that they couldn't wait for the updraft.

' _You have around a minute left, based off of the pace that the net is breaking.'_

"Oi! Gon, how much longer?"

"Just a bit longer…" A partly strong breeze passed, this seemed to be the signal Gon had been waiting for. "Now!"

On cue. Tricia, Gon and all examinees that were still hanging on the net, let go of said net, now falling down toward the Spider Eagle Eggs that lay before them. Tricia grabbed a random egg within her reach and began to plummet down towards the bottom of the valley.

' _You're gonna die~ We're going to die~ Free falling is strange when you know that you can't use Nen~'_

' _Very uplifting indeed.'_

As if on cue with Yuki's declaration of death, the updraft kicked in just in time, carrying the remainder of examinees up the valley. Soon, they were resting on solid ground again.

"Everyone who has an egg, please place them in this pot to cook."

Menchi had prepared a large pot of boiling water while they had gone to retrieve the eggs. How she had gotten it done so fast, would ultimately remain a mystery. All of the examines want to put their eggs in the pot, except for Tricia. Menchi had remembered how badly she had failed the previous second phase, so she personally took Tricia's egg from her and placed it in the pot.

' _Menchi! Did Tricia really fail that badly?' A little burn here and there never killed anyone!.'_

' _Something tells me Menchi doesn't even trust me enough to put an egg in a pot of boiling water.'_

' _Why? How can you mess something like that up?'_

' _I think that that's what Menchi is wondering...'_

Sometime later, Menchi declared that the eggs were cooked and handing out eggs to those who had passed her exam.

' _Isitgoodisitgoodisitgood?!'_

' _Yuki, I haven't even eaten it yet.'_

' _Oh yeah… Isitgood?'_

Tricia began to peel off the shell and eat said eggs.

' _So? So? I swear, I'm going to head to that mountain as soon as I can to try those eggs.'_

' _Comparable to the limited edition Cup Noodles that were auctioned off at Yorknew last year for 20,000 jenny, probably better because it's fresh.'_

' _OMG REALLY?! IM HEADING THERE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!'_

' _We should stock up on these as soon as possible.'_

After the completion of the exam, the remaining examinees piled onto the airship as the next phase had to be reached by air. As soon as they boarded the airship, Tricia and the rest of the examinees were formally introduced to Netero and told that they would arrive at the next exam site at 8 am. So after, Tricia and Yuki began by trying to figure out which of the examinees could potentially be trouble. In exams like these, both of them agreed that later on there would definitely be a one-on-one tournament. By now, most of the Hunter wannabes had been failed. The first phase weeded out anybody without the mental and physical endurance. The second had weeded out anyone without the guts to take risks.

' _Any idea on Illumi's Hatsu. Yuki?'_

' _No, I even asked Kelsi. She's never seen him so she has no clue. He keeps a low profile, kind of like Hikaoki. After a bit of hacking here and there, I think his Hatsu has to do something with some kind of long pointy objects. Probably the needles that he carries around. As for his Nen type, you may as well use personality analysis. Then again, it's pretty inaccurate, I mean, you're the least headstrong person ever.'_

' _Nah, I'm just stubborn when it comes to my goal. I don't really care if I have to take unavoidable detours, but when it comes to my end goal, I can be stubborn.'_

' _Huh? But why weren't you mad when Menchi failed you?'_

' _That's not up for debate. When it comes to a decision that someone has already made, especially if they made the decision that made sense, I don't argue. Then again, I wasn't as strong as I hope I'd be either. Swapping Nen categories kind of resets all the progress you have made on adapting your Hatsu to your fighting style.'_

' _Oh yeah, You've only had 3 years to figure out and improve your new Hatsu. The first year you had to create a Hatsu, undo the habits you had with your old one, and start to build a fighting style. The second year you just had to test it all out, patch up the weak points in it, and repeat until you were happy with the result. The third year, which is now, you're figuring out strategies that you can use.'_

' _Netero's watching us.'_

' _Oh yeah! He is!'_

"As expected of one of Kelsi's pupils, I'm assuming that you noticed me right?" Netero emerged from around a corner. Tricia stared at him in shock.

"You confirmed that I noticed you, after congratulating me for noticing you."

"Yes indeed. Seeing as you are Tricia, you would most likely notice me but not show it." Tricia stared at him once again in disbelief. "On the other hand, how's Kelsi doing?"

"She's fine, ' _Tell him I said hi!'_ -and Yuki would like to say hi."

"Oh, so Yuki's listening? Hi Yuki!"

' _You see Tricia? You should be a bit more open like Ojii~san!'_

"Oh yeah, Tricia! Do you want to play a game?"

"No." Tricia knew better than to participate in Netero's games. They tended to be impossible to the point of insanity.

"If you pass I'll give you a Hunter's license, how about that?"

"Even if you were blindfolded and tied to a chair and I was using Nen, I still wouldn't be able to win."

"You can try, trying never hurt anyone."

"No thanks." Netero sighed in defeat, and headed off, probably to try to get one of the rookies to play his impossible game.

' _You're no fun…'_ Tricia sighed, they had no new leads on Illumi's ability, and it was pretty much settled that Gon and his friends would probably be major players later on in the exam. Netero had headed off in the direction she had seen Gon and Killua, so if Netero had noticed them, they had potential.

' _The airship arrives at the Third Phase exam site at 8 am, right Yuki?'_

' _Ya, we've accomplished nothing so far and it's already 10 pm. Them again, we just finished Noragami as I'll probably go to sleep after a few episodes of Noragami Aragoto.'_

' _I'll tag along too, a few episodes of Aragato sound good.'_

' _Yoshi! Noragami Aragoto it is!'_

* * *

 **1\. 2. 3… I'M DONE. This chapter would just not write itself. Oh, if you didn't know, I write chapters on paper (during school during the most boring classes a.k.a. Math and French) and then type them up during the weekends (usually Sunday). Oh yeah, funny thing that happened during French. My teacher was talking her head off about some kind of French grammar (Of course, I wasn't listening) so I decided to write this. Later on, she asked me if I understood what she was saying and she believed me when I said yes because she saw me "feverishly writing down notes". Yep, totally writing down French notes (You couldn't find any hints of French notes in my notebook!). Probably going to fail the upcoming test but I've been pretty lucky so far.**

 **Now, I'm accepting any questions for my OCs (which will be answered in a special at the end). Feel free to ask anything.**

 **A huge thanks to Tosha232 and Majikku Uizado for favoriting and following this story.**

 **Review responses:**

 **Yuki: Yep, Just wait, it gets even better. Yuki's love for Cup Noodles will not cease!**

 **Majikku Uziado: Thanks! I know that chapter 1 is a bit long. I couldn't find a place to cut it in half and I felt that splitting day one into 2 chapters would be kind of strange.**

 **Next Chapter: Hunter Exam: Third Phase**


	5. Hunter Exam: Third Phase

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter, if I did, Kurapika would not have been neglected.**

* * *

'' _Oh, it's the sun. Wait, that doesn't make sense!'_

A little more than 8 hours ago, Tricia and Yuki had begun watching Noragami Aragoto. As you might know what happened, 'One more episode' quickly turned into 'the entire season'.

' _It's around six twenty, going off of the sun and considering that it's early March.'_

' _10 pm to now is 25 episodes. Noragami Aragoto is including the OVAs is 15.'_ Yuki said, frowning at the contradiction.

' _You have Princess Mononoke and Wolf Children downloaded right after Aragoto.'_

' _Oh yeah, I downloaded all sorts of stuff and that's next on the list.'_ FYI, unfortunately, there was no wifi inside Kelsi's realm, or Meteor City, for that matter. Trying to get wifi in the realm had been Kelsi's project for a good number of years. As a result, when Tricia and Yuki ever got wifi, the mass downloading session would begin. ' _It was great though, RIP sleep.'_

' _I'm going to make one of the Cup Noodles that I brought with me. Hisoka's on the other side of the airship so he won't notice.'_

' _Oh! You mean the ones in the storage crystals that Kelsi gave you?'_ The storage crystals that Kelsi used were similar to the ones that she used in battle but were made to hold solid objects for a longer period of time. Tricia had a habit of using one of them to carry around all sorts of things (mainly Cup Noodles and accommodations that any ordinary otaku would need (caffeine, offline preparations, the stray bloody knife, you know)). They were around an inch and a half long, so it wasn't difficult to carry them around on a daily basis.

' _Yeah, I carry one around with me at all times.'_ Tricia pulled out one of the crystals that she had one her. ' _I think there was a room somewhere with hot water and coffee.'_ She continued. Tricia could hear Yuki grimace at the mention of coffee. Let's just say, one thing lead to other, and now Yuki prefers tea over coffee as a source of caffeine.

' _I'm going to get some Cup Noodles too. There's nothing like Cup Noodles after an all-nighter.'_

' _Sounds good.'_ Tricia headed towards said room with hot water. No one was up at that hour so there wasn't a line or anything of that sort.

Three minutes later, a rather content Tricia was sitting on a bench eating a Cup Noodle. Unfortunately, this happened to attract the attention of one of the examinees.

* * *

 **-Hanzo's (Also known as Princess) PoV-**

Shortly after Hanzo had woken up to the smell of Cup Noodles, he was following the scent in hopes of finding more Cup Noodles to eat himself. He approached the cloaked (man? woman? He couldn't tell as he/she was wearing a face mask.) _How he/she was able to eat with it on?_

"Excuse Me?" The gender ambiguous figure looked up at him. "Just wondering, where did you get the Cup Noodles?" Now that Hanzo had more time to search his memory of the person before him, he vaguely remembered that he/she had been the one who had his/her pig on fire and left it burning during the Second Phase.

"Brought it myself." The person replied. Shoot, Hanzo couldn't even figure out his/her gender from his/her voice. On the other hand, Hanzo was disappointed that he couldn't get a Cup Noodle.

"Hmm, by the way, my name is Hanzo. Here's my business card." Hanzo offered, holding out a piece of cardstock to the person in front of him. He was unable to to tell his/her reaction but was able to detect an ounce of disbelief before he/she accepted his card. "Oh, and just wondering, what do you go by?" Hanzo pressed, half wanting to gather more potential allies, half wanting to figure out his/her gender.

"Hawk." Hanzo nodded as the pieces fell in place, so the bounty hunter was a guy. He nodded before bidding a short farewell and heading back to his room to continue sleeping.

* * *

 **-Tricia's PoV-**

' _Do I get started on Princess, or your black market name.'_

' _Hanzo is a rather, eccentric person, if anything.'_

' _Ya, he might even rival Kelsi, handing out business cards like that. Though Kelsi's more of the 'exact opposite of humble' type than the 'handing out their own business cards to random people' type.'_

* * *

An hour and half later, the airship had arrived at the Third Phase Exam site, Trick Tower.

Their objective, as it had been explained to them, was to get to the bottom of the 300 meter tall tower (preferably alive) in 72 hours. As beautifully demonstrated by one of the more ignorant examinees, climbing down the side of said tower would result in being eaten by one of the flying beasts that happened to inhabit the area.

' _Do you think that the flying things can eat a free-falling target?'_

' _How long would it take to get to the bottom?'_

' _7.82 seconds according to this splat calculator, but it doesn't take air friction into account.'_

' _I'll have to slow myself down along way so I don't die on impact, so probably 20 seconds. Eh, it's doable.'_

' _Really? This is free falling you're talking about!'_

' _This is where being a Kaiko comes into play, for a normal human, even with training, it'd be risky. Kaikos, on the other hand, are perfect for situations that require the ability to multitask.'_

' _Oh! That explains how you can play games while watching subbed anime.'_

' _That's only for Naruto because of the flashbacks. Usually, I don't multitask while watching anime. That don't apply to things that don't require much attention, of course.'_ Tricia headed over to the edge of the tower, wanting to get a better look of the tower.

' _Huh, some of the tiles are kind of loose.'_ Tricia noted as she pressed down on the loose tile again.

' _We should probably tell Netero or something, loose tiles makes buildings easier to blow apart.'_

' _Considering your experience as a terrorist bomber, I take it that it's a fact.'_

' _What's a terrorist bomber? 'Terrorist bomber' sounds cool though, like some kind of fancy name for someone who just really like blowing stuff up.'_

' _It kind of is, except that terrorist bombers are more like Alice than you.'_

' _Alice? Oh, the pink-haired crazy sniper-bomber? She's cool, I mean, anyone who appreciates how perfectly awesome a mushroom cloud is, has to be awesome as well!'_

' _She can be scary though, not many people can blow up something on a nuclear level and then continue playing a card game like nothing happened.'_

' _Why? After blowing up a building or something, wouldn't it make sense to continue your move? Especially if you were winning.'_

As the narrator, I will then proceed to tell you that several things happened. You know the tile that Tricia noted that was loose? Those 'loose tiles' were purposely installed into the top of trick tower as a way to get into the actual tower as trap doors. Tricia decided to stumble upon one, press it twice, and then, you guess it, fall through it.

' _WHAT THE ACTUAL.'_

Tricia blinked in surprise as the tile gave way underneath her.

' _That was a pleasant surprise.'_

Tricia looked around for a second. She was in what looked like a stone room. On one of the wall was a shelf that held two watched, both of them had a timer that counted down from 72 hours (at least that was Tricia's guess). Currently they were 20 minutes into the 72 hours. Above the watched was a screen that read 'Please wait for another examinee to arrive before advancing on to the Fourth Phase.

' _Well,'_ Yuki said, interrupting the silence that had accompanied their surprise. ' _That happened.'_

' _Are you kidding me…'_ Tricia groaned in despair. If anything, she hated it when she couldn't take a shortcut that was right in front of her. She was just that kind of person. Ask her to type an extra paragraph during a timed essay and she won't complain. Ask her to handwrite it and she'll stare at you like you're meastal.

' _On the flip side, let's be optimistic and look at the benefits of being trapped in here!'_

' _How lovely, you're not the one stuck in here.'_ Just a reminder that Yuki is NOT with Tricia and is indeed currently lazing around in Kelsi's realm snacking on Pocky with some Cup Noodles on the side.

' _Sooooo, how about Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood while we wait for someone else to fall down?'_

' _Any day, any time.'_

' _Yoshi! Let's see if we can get a few episodes in before we start the exam!'_

* * *

 **More than a few episodes later**

' _*Yawn* Man, that was good.'_ Unknowingly to Tricia and Yuki, "a few episodes" has turned into 38 very quickly.

' _Next episode.'_ Tricia told Yuki. Yuki nodded clicked the 'next' button. It wasn't until a few minutes until they noticed how much time had passed.

' _OH SHOOT.'_ Yuki practically screamed in surprise. ' _WE ARE ON GOLDEN TIME LOVER.'_

' _Shimatta.'_

'' _SHIMATTA' IS RIGHT, WE ARE ON THE FOURTH OPENING; WHICH MEANS THAT WE'RE WATCHING EPISODE 39 RIGHT NOW.'_ Tricia muttered a string of rather creative swears under her breath.

' _Yuki, do a quick sweep for telepathic energy on the top.'_ Tricia was kind of defeated at this point. If there was still someone at the top, it was unlikely that they would find the trapdoors anytime soon. If there was nobody on the top, then she would have to get creative.

' _Nobody. Oh, we are so screwed.'_

' _Absolutely amazing I tell you.'_ Welp, getting creative it was.

' _Waaaait,'_ Oh god, Tricia knew that tone. It was called the Yuki-has-an-idea-that-is-both-ingenious-and-idiotic-at-the-same-time. ' _How about we blow our way down to the bottom of the tower? Hisoka is at the bottom already so he won't notice you up here.'_

Note from narrator! For clarification, Yuki has two Hatsus. The first one, as mentioned previously, was the ability to manipulate and create the element of wind. Her second, was explosions (Yes, as in 'Katsu'). I'm not sure if I covered this in chapter one or not, so I'll say it right now. A draiknor and Kaiko are connected by a soul link, which is the reason why they can communicate even if the Kaiko is out of the draiknor's range. Through training, A Kaiko can use their draiknor's Hatsu and vice versa without suffering the consequences of using a nen category that is different from your own.

' _Actually, since Hisoka is out of the picture, I have no problem with blowing up a few floors up.'_ Tricia began building up some aura in her hand. Having done the training required in order to use Yuki's Hatsu, she was able to change the aura into a fiery ball of explosive that threatens to explode any second. Tricia then proceeded with shrinking the explosive ball until it was no bigger than a grain of rice.

Tricia then threw it a few meters away at the other side of the room. The mini-explosive exploded on impact and blew up anything within half a meter of it. She walked over to the hole, half admiring that the ball had exploded in a sphere, half amazed to see that Yuki's plan had been successful.

'Wow! How can anyone not appreciate the beauty of explosives?' Yuki replied right after the mini-explosive had gone off.

' _I see what you mean. Oh, can you tell me which places have prisoners by using a blueprint on Trick Tower or something? This is a prison after all.'_

' _Sure! Trying to sense telepathic energy through you can get a tad difficult and Nen consuming.'_ Tricia Jumped down the hole, readying a second bomb in her hand. If she was going to blow up a building, she may as well have fun doing it.

* * *

 **Not really anyone's PoV**

It wasn't until Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Leorio, and Tonpa were 1 hour in the 50 hour penalty did they notice anything strange.

One second, they were all doing whatever (reading, sleeping, fishing Leorio, etc.) The next, a bomb went off above their heads, spraying a decent amount of debris everywhere.

"What the heck?!" Leorio cried out in surprise, covered by the sound of the explosion. It wasn't exactly every day that a bomb went off right above your head. Even Kurapika was shocked enough to stare at the ceiling for a good few minutes, momentarily forgetting his book.

"My soda!" Tonpa cried as his soda was blown away by the debris. "Which one of you is responsible for the explosion?"

' _I think we might have landed ourselves in some peanut butter.'_ Yuki politey commented to Tricia, who was gaping at the scene before them.

' _If this isn't peanut butter than you can gouge my eyes out.'_ Tricia responded, being one of the few people in the world that understood Yuki's analogies.

" _Examinee Number 71"_ Their little dilemma was then turned into quicksand by a loudspeaker announcement addressed to Tricia. " _For the love of god, stop blowing up the tower floors. Continue to do so and you will be disqualified.'_

"Well this, is absolutely terrific." Tricia sarcastically replied to the announcement. Yuki silently nodded with Tricia's comment; meanwhile, the quartet and Tonpa were deer in headlights. Being one of the more simple minded ones, Gon was the first one to break the ice.

"Isn't that the person who's pig was on fire?" Gon asked rather blatantly.

"He should be. I remember that he got yelled at by Menchi; even Buhara refused to eat his dish." Yuki and Tricia were ready for another mental counter argument until they were interrupted yet again by an announcement.

" _Oh,"_ The loudspeaker cracked to life once again. " _and Examinee no. 71, for lack of better choices, you will be joining the group before you."_

"Wait, you're joining us!?" Leorio exclaimed. Although Tricia's reaction mirrored Leorio's; she continued by keeping her face expressionless and jumping down to the room below her (keep in mind that Tricia was a floor above them).

"It appears to be so." she responded, choosing a more professional tone (that Tricia aces in turning into sarcastic) in contrast to Leorio's brash one. Tricia was able to sum up the five examinees that she would finishing the third phase pretty quickly. Kurapika and Killua seemed to be the only quote unquote "normal" people (according to Tricia's lopsided guide to people) since they were the only ones who seemed wary of her. Leorio was someone that Yuki would definitely have fun messing with. Tonpa was only there because he had to but he definitely was not going to contribute to the group, and Gon was a happy-go-lucky innocent kind of kid that had a ton of skill and instinct.

"Hi, I'm Gon! Nice to meet you." Gon said, introducing himself soon after the announcement had been made. "Oh, by the way, what's your name?" he added on rather sheepishly.

"Hawk." Tricia, realizing that her black market pseudonym was terrible for any kind of casual conversation.

"Last?..." Killua added on rather suspiciously, As he was an assassin, he of all people didn't exactly open up to shady strangers.

"None. If you don't mind, I'll just watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood until the time's up. That's assuming that we don't get out until the timer's up, right?"

"That is correct." This time, it was Kurapika that responded to her.

' _Your social skills are terrible.'_

' _Thanks, I noticed.'_

' _I guess we have to finish the episodes on your tablet then, it would be suspicious if you just stared into space for a couple of hours.'_ Tricia sat down in one of the empty spaces on the floor while taking out a black phone-sized tablet. The tablet flicked to life while she fished out a pair of earbuds and a flash drive from her side bag and plugged them into siad tablet. For clarification, the flash drive Tricia carried around only had roughly 2% of the anime that their main one, which was with Yuki as it was too bulky to carry around. Extra somewhat useless information: Tricia's flash drive is 64 GB while the one with Yuki is 4TB. Also, the episodes on Tricia's flash drive are 480p to save space while the ones on the main one are 1080p because Yuki is spoiled. The author is too lazy to figure out how many episodes are in each flash drive BUT the author will tell you that Tricia's is completely full and that the 4TB still has 891 GB of space left.

 **-Tricia's PoV-**

' _Fullmetal Alchemist here I come!'_ Yuki exclaimed with excitement when the episode started playing. Tricia skipped to where they had left of, which was right at the beginning of the fourth opening.

' _The openings are so good compared to the original*, right Tricia?'_

' _Yeah, these openings are top-notch no matter how many times I watch them.'_

' _The original only did the 'Edmund's right arm is made out of metal' and the 'Haflinger is useless joke' better. After that, Brotherhood is better in almost every aspect.'_

' _They did the Haflinger joke way too early in Brotherhood; we didn't even knew how his gloves worked so they had to explain it, which didn't make it as funny.'_

' _Cicatrix is so looked over in the original too.'_

' _Not to mention the original didn't have April or Greedlin, and Desire only existed to be killed.'_

' _Yeah,'_ Tricia focused on the screen, as the episode was starting. The other people in group began to continue what they had been doing prior to Tricia's entrance.

' _How did this group land themselves in a 50 hr time deduction anyways?'_

' _I don't know, maybe they violated a rule early on in their phase or something. We should ask one of them later.'_

' _Sounds think a deal!'_ Yuki exclaimed, settling down for the episode.

* * *

"Hawk-san?" Tricia looked up to see Gon looking at her screen, "What are you watching?"

"Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood." Tricia replied. She was slightly confused by Gon; he was obviously skilled and wasn't stupid, seeing as he was still alive. On the other hand, Tricia couldn't tell what he was trying to do by approaching her.

"What's it about?" Gon asked her. Tricia was slightly baffled, how was she going to explain Fullmetal Alchemist to someone who had never watched it before? The plot and backstory were a tad complex and intertwined. She could alway do the 'badly explain an anime in a sentence' explanation** but something told her that it would only rouse more questions.

"Basically, two brothers go on a journey to find a stone that will restore their bodies." There, a sticky weak explanation, but an explanation. Tricia hoped that he didn't asking more questions regarding FMA or she might end up slipping a spoiler.

"Their bodies?..." Gon asked, tilting his head to one side in confusion.

"One of the brothers is a cyborg. The other's soul is bound to a suit of armor."

"Cyborg?..."

"A person with metal limbs."

"Oh! I see. So the brothers are going on a journey to fix themselves." _Not exactly 'fix themselves' though, more like 'get their bodies back'._

' _Actually Tricia, you're not half bad at explaining stuff.'_

' _Well, I guess it could have been worse.'_ Gon sat to her, watching Fullmetal Alchemist with her. He would ask a question every now and then, but besides that, he was not a bad person to watch anime with.

So far, the status of everyone in the room was like this: Gon was watching anime with her, Killua joined Tricia and Gon some time later, Kurapika was reading, Leorio was taking a nap on one of the couches, and Tonpa was playing solitaire while glancing at her every now and then.

' _Come on Tricia, you can't be_ that _scary.'_

' _It's probably because I saw through his act earlier in the exam.'_

' _Maybe he thinks you're a mind reader or something! That does make a lot more sense.'_

So far, Tricia didn't think too much about the four. After watching a good handful of episodes, she was able to conclude a few things. Killua was similar to his twin, Killuko, except that Killuko hadn't had the mysterious assassin-ish feel like Killua had. He hid it well, but Tricia could tell that it was there. Something else that Tricia was able to note was that Killua seemed more on edge than he had been. The latter was the kind that would drive Rina nuts by dragging them into all sorts of situations, but when in enemy territory, she would immediately switch into a quieter, extremely cautious and caluting mode. Personally, both Tricia and Yuki would admit that the serious Killuko scared them pretty badly. For comparison, a serious Killuko was like a motivated Shikamaru. Still, both of them had the same fluffy hair that had driven Killuko crazy after she had cut it shoulder-length.

Oh, and Killua was somewhat suspicious of her for unknown reasons.

"Now that I think about it, how were you able to blow up the tower floor?" Killua asked as the stone spear Edmund has just made broke.

"I had some gunpowder and dynamite along with a collection of matches so I thought why not." A standard Yuki answer.

"Oh." Killua seemed slightly taken back to her casual response. He switched his attention to the timer on the wall " Gon, we should probably go to sleep, it's already eleven."

"Ehh, " Gon replied hesitantly, obviously hooked onto Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, "One more episode?"

"That's how they get you hooked. If I don't bug you now, you'll be there until morning"

' _True true, but after a few months of binging, you get used to it. After a year or so, you can control yourself to the point where you don't need someone else to drag you away from the next season.'_

Gon was still torn between the two options.

"If you want, I can hold off the episode until later." Tricia suggested. Gon brightened at her offer.

"Really?" Gon asked hopefully. Tricia modded, confirming his decision. "Thank you, Hawk-san! I'll continue watching with you when I wake up."

' _Man, Gon reminds me of how annoying honorifics are.'_ Yuki sighed while spinning a senbon.

' _It can get a bit bothersome at times, you know, with all the '-san's and whatnot.'_

' _Actually, we should be calling Kelsi either 'Kelsi-dono' or 'Danchou', but ya know, the Kaikos are all for convenience. Honorifics do nothing but be formal, using honorifics just slow you down when giving real-time reports and whatnot.'_

' _Agreed. It's just as Akira Mado explained.'_

' _*Yawn* Actually, I should probably sleep soon.'_

' _*fake gasp*'_

' _Lemme guess! "OMG. IS THE AMAZING BINGER YUKI GOING TO SLEEP!?"'_

'" _I THOUGHT SLEEP WAS FOR THE WEAK?!"'_

'" _LOWER CASE LETTERS ARE FOR THE LOWER CLASS."'_

' _SEE YOU IN THE MORNING.'_

' _BYE.'_ With that, Yuki cut the connection. Now that Trivia was on her own, she noticed that everyone else was asleep (especially Tonpa, who could join a chorus with his snoring.)

Tricia wordlessy packed her earbuds and tablet into her side bag. After making sure that all of her weapons were in the right place (a habit that she picked up on overnight missions), she went to sleep next to the wall.

-Line-

 **Around 5 Hours Later**

 **Killua's PoV**

Six hours later, Killua was up, unable to sleep. After all, he was able to go two or three days without sleeping without hindrance his performance. Many things were on his mind, but one thing stood out the most.

He had seen Hawk somewhere before, that much he was sure of.

But the question was, where?

The first thing that came to him was that he had encountered the enigma during an assassination, but that seemed more unlikely the more he thought about it. If that was the case, why was Hawk still alive? If he had been a bodyguard of one of his victims, as unlikely as that seemed, he would be dead. In fact, if he had met Killua anytime during an assassination, he would be dead.

The other option, well, Killua couldn't think of any other option that would explain why he remembered him. he wouldn't remember anyone that he just happened to pass by, and he had never gone out of his family estate other than to assassin someone. He had gone to train at Heaven's Arena for two years, but he was confident that he hadn't seen Hawk there.

Anyhow, among the unanswered questions, his intuition told him one thing.

Hawk was somehow related to his only white-haired sibling.

Killua didn't remember much about his sister; his parents had only told him that she had deserted the family when he had just turned 6. He had been dropped off at Heaven's Areana right after that so he hadn't exactly gotten the time to mull over that fact. No matter how much he thought about it, he didn't remember much about his sibling. Killua found it odd, he still had clear memories from before he was 5, but he could remember anything about his sibling besides a fuzzy outline here and there. Heck, Killua would have bought the lie that that person was one of the guards that turned traitor if he hadn't found the old family portrait shoved in his mother's dresser. He estimated that he was only 2 at that time as Kalluto, his youngest brother, was not there.

On that picture, right next to him, was a white-haired girl in a kimono.

He had been puzzled by this fact, he had no cousins, and only family members where in that picture; meaning one thing, that girl, was his sister, possibly twin.

Connecting all the dots was a difficult task. Linking his fuzzy memories to this mysterious family member had taken him a while, but had yielded no results other than confirming that it was indeed his sister that was in the photo and that she had left the Zoldyck estate when he was 6.

Killua sighed, and hoped that the next day would hold some answers.

-Line-

 **1 Hour Later**

 **Tricia's PoV**

Tricia woke with start to Gon and Killua's rather noisy pillow fight. Tonpa was still leading a chorus, now with trumpets and a farm. Somewhere during the night, Leorio had joined Tonpa in deafening the world and was half off the couch seat he was sleeping on. And, as expected from the bookworm, Kurapika was up early reading his book.

' _We should take a video of this chaotic scene and post this on the Hunter Page. 'The Worst Type of Examinee Contestants to Ever be Part of a Hunter Exam'. Ya think it would get hit a million views before the end of the exam?'_ Tricia wasn't exactly surprised that Yuki was already up, eating Cup Noodles by the sound of it

' _Says the draiknor while eating Cup Noodles. Let's see is you can beat your all time best at 33 cups. If I remember correctly, your average Cup Noodle consumption rate is 20 per day.'_

' _Oi! I don't do 20 EVERY day. Maybe once or twice during a 24-hour binge or something. And 33? You sure you weren't seeing double?'_ Tricia sweatdropped, how did you see double and count an odd number of Cup Noodles?

' _But just the day before yesterday I counted 21, and that wasn't during a 24-hour binge. Plus, those 21 is what I know of, who knows how many more you actually ate.'_

' _Wait, the Great Tricia actually counted?! That's unbelievable! Insane! Prepo-'_ Tricia pulled away from Yuki's rambling just in time. It wasn't until 5 minutes later when she was sure that Yuki finished her rant that Tricia tapped back into the connection.

' _I swear, I need a seperate part of my mind decided solely to your ramblings.'_

' _Ah, but that would be no fun, no?'_

The second day in the 50 hour passed similar to the first, minus someone crashing through the ceiling. When Tricia, Gon and Killua finished Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Gon and Killua suffering from anime withdrawal). She asked if they felt like watching the original FMA or a happy show about high school rebels. Both of them seemed confused so Tricia had to explain a bit.

"Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the remake of Fullmetal Alchemist. Back when the original was coming out, the manga couldn't keep up with the anime so they had to branch off at a certain point. After the manga was finished, they went back and redid the series but with the manga ending and added in the Xang empire." Tricia explained

"The second choice is?..." Killua asked rather cautiously, Yuki and Tricia mentally cackling in actipation.

' _Who ever cries the hardest has to watch Graveyard of the Fireflies.'_

' _Deal.'_

"Angel Beats." Tricia said with a straight face and Yuki laughed maniacally in the background.

' _THEY WON'T KNOW WHAT HIT THEM ONCE EPISODE 13 COMES ALONG. I'VE GOT PINTEREST AND TUMBLR UP SO I WON'T CRY.'_

' _No fair, if I pull up either of those, Killua and Gon would be mentally scarred at our homefeeds!'_

' _What's so bad about 'I swear I'm not a serial killer, I'm just a writer' posts?'_

' _I think a whole feed of how to get away with a murder and different types of blood splatters will scar someone like Gon. That's not to mention the dark side of fandom that we are kind of involved in.'_

' _Oh yeah, the dark side of fandom is kind of scary.'_

Needless to say, four hours later, Gon and Killua were bawling their eyes out.

-Line-

 **The Next Day**

The next day, Tricia's tablet broke.

' _ARE YOU KIDDING ME, HOW.'_ Was Yuki's reaction. ' _WE BOUGHT THAT FOR A MILLION JENNY.'_

' _Then again, we've had this for almost 3 years now.'_

' _Huh, you do have a point, BUT YOU'VE HAD YOUR LAPTOP FOR 5.'_

Tricia sighed, knowing that the three of them wouldn't be able to binge anime anymore. She explained the situation to Gon (who seemed confused) and put the tabet back into her side bag.

"Hawk-san, I was just wondering, why do you want to take the Hunter Exam?" Gon asked. Tricia pondered for an answer that didn't go along the lines of "so I don't go broke because I have a draiknor at home that devours Cup Noodles at the speed of sound". You see, 70% of Tricia and Yuki's budget goes to Cup Noodles while the other 30% goes to transportation.

"Well, in reality, it's so I can charge more for missions without scaring off too many of my clients."

"Huh?" Gon asked, not really understanding.

"To put it bluntly, I'm a mercenary."

"Oh! I see. Actually, Killua is from a family of assassins." Tricia stared at Gon for a second, after all, he had said it as casually as Yuki would open the lid of Cup Noodle No. 15.

"I was wondering, how did you end up with a 50-hour penalty?"

"Leorio, the tall man with the suitcase over there, lost a bet so we have to spend 50 hours in here."

"Oh, that does make sense." Well that answered her and Yuki's question on that topic.

"Actually," Killua said, "The TV over there is linked up with a gaming system. Do you want to play anything?"

"Sure." Both Tricia and Gon answered. Tricia had somewhat of a plan, suggested by Yuki, of course.

"Do either of you have a game in mind?" The assassin asked.

"Actually, one of my coworkers likes this game called Magic and Mythics." Yuki grinned devilishly. Magic and Mythics had been programmed by Kelsi and a few of her friends. After it's release, the Kaikos basically used it as an alternative to dueling (as a battle between two higher-ranking Kaikos would result in the destruction of more than a good few acres).

"Yep, It's here." Killua put the disc into the console, before long, the home screen to Magic and Mythics appeared on the TV screen. "Wait," Killua said, recognizing the home screen, "Isn't this the game that was programmed and developed by one of the top hunters in the Hunter Association?"

"You are correct."

' _Oi oi, Tricia, do you want me to sign in too? Maybe we can do a 2v2.'_

' _Sure, I bet they would be so confused about your usernames.'_

' _YESS, I LOVE MY USERNAMES.'_

"One of the things that I like about this game is that you don't have to spend hours on it in order to be good." Tricia said, clicking into the PvP interface. "I'm assuming we're doing Battle Royal since there's three us, okay?"

"That's fine." Killua responded, cleary interesting in the game, one of the reasons being that one of his older brothers tried to get him in it. "Actually, my older brother plays this game. Apparently, he's one of the top players."

"You know the basics?"

"Nope." Both Killua and Gon responded.

"Basically, in the beginning of each battle, you get to choose one of the four guilds: Warrior, Mage, Assassin, and Alchemist. Warrior gives you attack and defensive buffs, Mage increases magic and resistance, Assassin increases evasion and movement speed, and Alchemist makes you immune to debuffs and gives you random buffs every round. Then, there are 5 classes that all the characters in the game can be grouped into, Swordsman, Archer, Magician, Summoner, and Healer. What they do is pretty self explanatory. In PvP mode, you get to use all of the characters and 50 points which you can use to enhance their stats. As for the battle layout, the idea is that you have to capture as many of the 21 dungeon floors before the 15 minute mark. Battle Royal is the same idea but each player gets a base and there's no time limit. If your base is destroyed, you're eliminated from the round. Each floor you capture gives you a set buff. For example, Floor 15 always gives you 30% increased movement speed." Tricia explained.

"I see." Killua said, getting a better grasp of the game.

"Then there are 'killer strategies' that some people came up with, personally, my favorite being one where you choose either the Warrior or Assassin guild and allot all of your points into a Healer's evasion and attack in a 4:1 ratio. That one is a pain to deal with."

"Oh, I see." the assassin said, understanding the idea. "Your healer would dodge all of the opponent's attacks and in the rare case that it was hit, it would just heal itself."

"The problem with that one is that it doesn't work with Battle Royal, by putting all of your points in one unit, you end up leaving yourself wide open."

"That does make sense." the Zoldyck responded.

"Anyways, now that you know the basics," Trica tossed two remote controllers to Killua and Gon before selecting the Battle Royal function, "why don't we play a round of Magic and Mythics?"

-Line-

 **2 Hours Later**

"How can you be so good at this?!" Both Killua and Gon cried out, the former in desperation, the latter in awe.

"I rank 38 in overall gameplay, 21 in Battle Royal."

"WHAT?!"

"You can check if you want, my username is Unknown." Killua had a look of disbelief before checking the top 50 players for battle Royal. Indeed, 'Unknown' was rank 21.

"Wait, WHAT'S UP WITH THESE USERNAMES?!" Tricia looked over Killua's shoulder.

"Oh yeah, those."

 _ **Top 50 Players (Battle Royal)**_

 _IMayOrMayNotBeTheCreator (Kelsi)_

 _It seems that I'm the only normal one (Takuya)_

 __ (Hikaoki)_

 _HELLO FROM (Lennex)_

 _THE (Gyro, Lennex's draiknor)_

 _OTHER SIDE (Yuki)_

 _? (Ruki)_

 _Guest32 (Keiron, Guest(number) is an automatically given username if someone doesn't submit one)_

 _Guest74 (Karima)_

 _WHALALALALALALALALALAOHNOTHECHARACTERLIM (Yuki's Second Account)_

 _I don't have a username (Akiryuu)_

 _Assassin (Miluki, Killua's older brother)_

 _That person (An unnamed Kaiko)_

 _Nemesis (Some regular otaku)_

 _I swear I'm not your stalker (Luna)_

 _I dOn'T hAvE a UsErNaMe 2 (an unnamed Kaiko)_

 _Hi (Yuki)_

 _Hi (Yuki)_

 _Hi (Yuki)_

 _Hi (Yuki)_

 _Unknown_

"They are strange…" Even Gon sweatdropped at a few of them.

"How many 'La's are there in number 10?"

"Nine." Surprisingly, Yuki was pretty good when it came to usernames.

"How do people remember some of these?..."

"Anyways," Tricia started, "That's the basics to it. My coworker, whom I previously mentioned, is 'Other Side', rank 10, and the four 'Hi's."

"So your coworker opened six accounts?"

"Yep."

"How much time does your coworker spend on this game?"

"Ehh, A lot. We still have 4 hours left, so how about another round?"

"Sure. Hey Gon, how about we team up on Hawk this time?" Killua said, a cat-like grin spreading across his face

"Ok!" Gon answered. Tricia sighed, teaming up was one of the worst things that could happen on Battle Royal.

"If you want to team up, you need to first come up with a strategy together first, and then come up with a lineup that would work the best. Oh, and remember that both of you still need a balanced lineup for when you have to turn on each other. A bit of advice, focus on the floors first, but you should always be close enough to defend your base. Also, keep in mind that if you destroy someone's base, their units disappear."

"So, offense is sometimes the best defense?"

"Yep, that is heavily applied in this game. For example, in the second game, instead of trying to intercept Killua's attack on my base, I went and destroyed his before he could do the same to mine. Gon was too far away to attack mine."

"Huh, that does make sense." Killua noted as the Battle Royal interface loaded and the round began.

' _TODAY'S FRESHEST MEMES: HOW TO ASSERT DOMINANCE BY USING WHALE NOISES.'_ Yuki randomly screamed in Tricia's mind. It took her a second to process what she had just said while not looking like an idiot in front of Gon and Killua. ' _*screams in pain and laughter while sounding like a fangirl on a sugar rush*'_

"Hawk-san?..."

"... It's nothing,"

' _EVERYONE'S BEEN STARING AT ME FOR THE PAST 5 MINUTES. I SWEAR, THIS IS GOLDEN. WHAT HAS PINTEREST AND MEMES DONE TO ME.'_

Well, on that happy note,

-Line-

 **3 Hours and 59 Minutes later**

"I swear, this is the longest minute of my life." Leorio said. All six of them had packed up their stuff and were waiting for the metal door to swing open, signaling that their 50 hours in the room where over.

00:00

The red light on the door suddenly switched to green, and with a click, the door swung open. Gon sprinted out, followed by Killua and envaulted the rest of the examinees with Leorio complaining about Gon's pace.

After about an hour or so of solid running, they reached what Tricia assumed was were the original five lost their 50 hours, a room with a nonexistent floor and only a platform in the middle with three narrow walkways that connected the platform to three exits, them stand at the entrance of one. Having no idea which exit lead to where, she simply followed the five examinees into one of the exits.

From there on, the six examinees has to go through several obstacles (that cost another 8 hours of their time) until they reached a room lined with all sorts of weapons and two doors, one with an X, the other with an O.

"This will be the last decision made by the majority rule. Are you ready? Choose O or X." Killua read.

"Am I ready? You bet." Was Leorio's response. The five of them voted, there was a short argument since one of them had selected X, but was quickly resolved by Kurapika.

"Please select a path. There are two choices. One path allows six to pass, but is long and difficult. The other path allows only four, but is short and easy. Incidentally, the long and difficult path requires a minimum of forty-five. The short and easy path leads to the goal in approximately three minutes. Press O for the long and difficult path, and X for the short and easy path. If X is selected, two people must be secured to the wall with handcuffs, before the door will open. The two chained members will be unable to move until the time limit expires."

"The examiners were very prepared, I think they have every weapon under the sun here." Killua said, noticing the assortment of weapons on the walls.

"2 out of 6... So we're supposed to fight, to decide the four who pass?" Kurapika surmised.

"Let me make this clear. I'm going to press X. But I have no intention of staying behind. I'll do whatever it takes to be one of the four…" Is what Leorio said.

"You're shameless, had you not wasted fifty hours, we could have taken the long path. Shouldn't you take responsibility and stay behind? I'm sure everyone else agrees! Have I said anything inaccurate?"

' _Hahaha Tonpa, how about you be one of the two as well?'_

"Hold on, I'm going to press O. I have an idea." Gon turn to Tricia. "Hawk-san, you said that you blew up the tower floors using dynamite, right?"

"That is correct. The announcement only forbade me from blowing up tower floors, not walls." Tricia responded, starting to realize Gon's plan.

"If we choose the O path, could you blow up the walls and create an entrance to the X path?"

' _Oh great, we can't exactly tell them now that we didn't use dynamite, can we?'_

' _Actually, if I remember correctly, you can put delays on your explosions, right?'_

' _I see! We can fake it!'_

"That is possible."

"Ok! Then everyone, press O." Seeing now that Gon had a plan to let all six of them pass, all five applicant with watches pressed O, and thus, the door to the long path slide open.

"Just stand back a bit…" Tricia muttered to the other examinees. Once she was in the tunnel, she focused building arua in her hand, and then threw it toward the wall.

' _BOOM!'_ Yuki added in as the wall blew up, sending bits of debris everywhere.

"It's clear." Tricia announced to the five. With that, they went down the short and easy path, which ended up being a slide that led them to the goal, where several other examinees where waiting for the end of the phase.

"Kurapika, applicant #404, is twentieth to pass. Gon, applicant #405, is twenty-first to pass. Killua, applicant #99, is twenty-second to pass. Hawk, applicant #71, is twenty-third to pass. Total time, seventy-one hours and four minutes." Leorio and Tompa followed shortly after, slowed down by their fighting.

"Leorio, applicant #403, is twenty-fourth to pass. Tonpa, applicant #16, is twenty-fifth to pass. Total time, seventy-one hours and 5 minutes."

"Man, I wasn't expecting a slide for the short and easy path." Killua sighed. "Now we have 55 minutes to burn."

-Line-

 **55 Minutes Later**

"Twenty-five applicants pass the third phase. One has died." The loudspeaker announced. One of the walls in the room slid up to reveal the Fourth Phase examiner, Lippo.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, congratulations on having escaped Trick Tower. Only the Fourth and Final Phase remain." He raised his hand and pointed to a island behind him. "The fourth Phase will take place over there, on Zevil's Island. Then let us proceed." The third phase examiner ruled out one of those tables with wheels on them that had a box with a hole in the top. "I will need all of you to draw lots."

-Line-

 **AN**

 **Aaaaand, There is Chapter 5.**

 **Don't kill me for the late update! The fact that I had stated playing Naruto Online (since I finished Shippuden around a week ago, you can find me on Server 838 under the username Luvince) my or may not have had an impact on the late release of this chapter. Fun fact, when I get stuck on one part I tend to go on Pinterest and surf on there until I get some ideas (hence the 'How to assert dominance by using Whale noises' meme, if you search it up, the first result in the images is it).**

 **Oh, and I had the most fun ever coming up with the Kaiko's usernames, there were some amazing ones there, I tell you.**

 **A huge thanks to Kashiko Rivatyl for betaing (idk spelling) this chapter.**

 **Replies to Reviews:**

 **Majikku Uizado: Thanks a ton for reviewing! As for how long I update…;;;; So far, I've been posting a new chapter every month or so. I try to aim for every 2 or 3 weeks but my inner Shikamaru just takes over when I try to write.**

 **ANYWAYS this AN is getting a bit long so I'll cut it here**

 **As of 4/4/2018: I changed Kelsi and Kastu's conversation up a bit at the end, all you have to know now is that Katsu is Kelsi's spy and has infiltrated the werewolves.**

 **Reviews/Favorites/Follows are appreciated!**

 **Next Chapter: Fourth Phase: Zevil's Island**


	6. Hunter Exam: Fourth Phase

**Chapter 6**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter X Hunter, if I did, Alluka would look 11.**

 **-Line-**

' _Soooo, on a scale from Kazuma Satou to Shinichi, how good is your luck?'_

' _Kaneki Ken.'_

' _Without a doubt.'_

' _How reassuring.'_ Tricia stared at the card in her hand.

294, Hanzo.

Explanation? The lots that the fourth phase examiner had the remaining applicants draw were each other's number plates, the corresponding number plate would be their target. On Zevil's Island, they needed to collect a total of 6 points in order to pass the fourth phase. Their own number plate and their target's was worth 3 point, anyone else's was worth 1.

Now, the reason why Hanzo was a bad target for Tricia despite Tricia being stronger than him was because Hanzo was the only one of the three (the other two being Killua and Illumi) that had had enough formal training. Even worse, Hanzo used an assassin-like style, similar to Tricia's. If what he said about being a ninja was true, then most likely he would be able to pass the phase regardless of whether Tricia took his tag or not. Killing Hanzo would draw too much attention from Hisoka, fighting him could lead to 1) Hanzo finding out her fighting style and 2) Hisoka becoming interested in her.

On top of that, the fourth phase would consist of one week where all of the applicants would run free trying to kill each other on an island. A perfect opportunity for Hisoka or someone else to attack her.

' _Hisoka's such a bother, he knows you're one of the stronger ones and he's the only one who can kill you here.'_ Yuki had voiced Tricia's thoughts perfectly. True, she couldn't guarantee a win against Illumi, but Tricia was confident that she would be able to walk away from the battlefield alive. Although that would mean that she would have to use nen, which would lead to Hisoka killing her later on.

' _We would need Kelsi here in order to stand a chance; please tell me she was holding back at that time.'_

' _She probably wasn't holding back in terms of skill, but she would have definitely held back in terms of firepower. After all, she was fighting in her client's building guarding something, and I'm pretty sure that the client did pay her for the job.'_

' _The bigger question would be how Hisoka was able to handle Keiron and Takuya along with her, even if it were only for a minute or so. Keiron is much more defensive than offensive so it make sense for Hisoka being able to not get killed in a minute by him, but him and Takuya?.'_

' _Takuya's ability takes out people pretty quickly too, him being the Specialist-conjurer type.'_

"Applicants will arrive on Zevil's Island in the order they finished the Third Phase in two minute intervals. Number 44, Hisoka, please step up."

' _On the flip side,'_ Yuki continued. ' _The fourth Phase takes place right in our home territory, the wilderness. Equipped with Cup Noodles and anime, there's nothing that can stop us!'_

' _We have roughly 40 minutes to burn before set foot on Zevil's Island. We can probably sneak in a episode of Assassination Classroom and come up with a rough strategy in that time frame.'_

' _Yas! Let's get this strategy thing over with first!'_

-Line-

 **42 minutes later**

"Number #71, Hawk, please step up." Tricia headed toward the bridge that linked the boat to the Island.

Their strategy went like this, Yuki would be able to scout a radius of roughly 400 meters through Tricia. Hanzo was one of the earlier ones to depart to Zevil's Island and would have had roughly 35 minutes to travel around Zevil's Island. Tricia was able to estimate that Zevil's Island was around two kilometers wide and eight across, meaning that the Island had a area of 16 square kilos. That was obviously too large of and area to search, as Hanzo could have gone anywhere in 35 minutes. Their strategy was based off the fact that the middle of Zevil's Island was only 1500 meters and had a lake/pond/body of water in the middle that took up 800 of the 1500 meters. The 700 meters of land were split into two parts, 200 meters of forest and 500 meters of beach. Tricia assumed that Hanzo would probably take either the 200 meter route over crossing a kilo long strip of flat land that would leave him wide open. She would simply lie in wait and attack who ever passed over the strip of land. how was she sure that Hanzo would cross over the piece of land? Simple, The boat dropped them off at one end of the island. In order to pass to the other side, Hanzo would take the path Tricia was guarding. Yuki could tell Hisoka's telepathic energy from all the other examinee's because of it's _uniqueness_ (aka it's psychopathic feel) so Tricia would know to not approach him. In the case where Hanzo didn't pass her, Tricia would lie in wait for him where the boat would arrive a week later.

' _*Yawn* I can hold 400 meters for around a day, but I need to put it down for at least 5 hours after that in order to recharge my Nen. 200 I can hold for 2 days with the same amount of rest time. The best option would be to flash-search, then the limit would become how long I can go for without sleeping, and I can easily do a week with energy drinks and anime.'_

Note: Flash-searching was a strategy that was used to hold a range for long period of time while using the least amount of stamina. Simply put, if Yuki's range is 400 meters (800m diameter) and Hanzo needs two minutes to travel across 800 meters, Yuki would do a quick sweep for telepathic energy every minute and a half.

As soon as Tricia disappeared into the forest of Zevil's Island, she was able to head to the piece of land where she would be staying the week at. All of this passed rather uneventfully, other than Yuki informing her that Gon and someone else was camping out next to the lake. For future reference, Yuki happens to be rather sensitive to differences in telepathic energy (or TLE) and can recognize other people's telepathic energy faster than most drakniors. Also, some people have noticeably unique TLE (Gon, Hisoka, and Illumi fall into this category, Killua is not included since his TLE in similar to Illumi's, but slightly weaker and friendlier).

' _Ok! I've got a list of anime to binge and Assassination Classroom is no 1. TIme to binge!'_

 **-End of Day One-**

 **Status:**

 **Finished Assassination Classroom S1 & S2**

 **Finished Nichijou**

 **Watching Your Lie in April**

 **Cup Noodle Count:**

 **Yuki:**

 **Finished - 27**

 **Remaining - 219**

 **Tricia:**

 **Finished - 4**

 **Remaining - 51**

 **Random Thought of the Day:**

 **Why is Yuki smashing M &Ms together?... - Tricia**

 **-Start of Day Two-**

3:00 - Tricia wakes up after a 3-hour nap. Yuki has been playing M&M (Magic & Mythics) the entire night.

3:40 - Both Tricia and Yuki are bawling their eyes out because of ending of Your Lie in April.

3:45 - After some Cup Noodles, Tricia and Yuki begin Boku no Hero Academia (s1 & s2).

8:23 - Tricia and Yuki finish Boku no Hero Academia S1 and start S2.

12:51 - Trica and Yuki run into some other examinee (false alarm).

4:37 - Tricia and Yuki finish Boku no Hero Academia S2.

4:38 - Tricia and Yuki go on an anime rant.

5:59 - Tricia and Yuki begin Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

9:13 - Tricia and Yuki finish Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

9:30 - 1v1 PvP Magic and Mythics tournament starts. After 42 min of intense battle between Yuki and Akiryuu, Yuki is declared the victor and moves up from rank 14 to rank 13.

10:12 - Tricia and Yuki come up with different strategies for M&M and test them out on an unsuspecting Sakurami (who's rank 32 in 1v1 PvP)

12:00 - Tricia and Yuki are still gaming.

 **-End of Day Two-**

 **Status:**

 **Finished Your Lie in April**

 **Finished Boku no Hero Academia S1 & S2**

 **Cup Noodle Count:**

 **Yuki:**

 **Finished - 31**

 **Remaining - 188**

 **Tricia:**

 **Finished - 7**

 **Remaining - 44**

 **Other:**

 **Yuki moved up one rank in 1v1 PvP**

 **Yuki succeeded in managing to slightly annoy Sakurami**

 **Random Thought of the Day:**

 **I should send this M &M back for breeding purposes. - Yuki**

 **-Start of Day 3-**

12:21 (pm) - After a night/morning of gaming, Tricia wakes up.

…

' _Oi, Tricia.'_ Yuki said out of nowhere.

' _Hn?'_ She responded, slightly startled.

' _Hanzo's at 3 o'clock, 257 meters. Someone who I'm pretty sure is Killua and three others are with him. They don't seem to be fighting though. I think Hanzo's hiding and the three others are trying to get Killua's tag or vice versa.'_

' _Ok, I'll keep my distance but move a little closer.'_

' _Should we meet up with Bleach Boy after intercepting Princess?'_

' _Depends, he's still a little suspicious of us.'_

' _So we'll just cross the bridge when we come to it, then.'_ Tricia started tree-hopping toward Killua's location before she was nearly smacked in the face with a tag. Only reflexes prevented her from losing an eye.

' _Jeez, I guess that those training sessions with Kelsi do some good.'_ Yuki replied to the sudden occurrence. The draiknor had been referring to the evasion training that Kelsi put both of them through (that included both Nen-enhanced knives, the occasional fireball (that sometimes turned into a volcano), and the creation of several new ravines. Training took place outside of Kelsi's realm because she wasn't exactly fond of testing the limits of her realm. Sure, it could take more than a few hits (heck, more like a barrage), but giant, flashy, Kelsi-grade destruction? That was pushing it.).

' _This tag came in Killua and Hanzo's direction.'_

' _Huh, and there goes Princess. He seems to be running/tree hopping away from us really fast. That sounds wrong, oh well, idk grammar.'_

' _We should probably ask Killua what's going on. It should be impossible for Hanzo to spot us at this range.'_

' _Yup! Asking Bleach Boy it is.'_

After a couple more second of tree hopping, Tricia plopped down from the trees next to Killua. Scaring the heck out of the ex-assassin and entertaining Yuki some more.

' _*Trying not to laugh but failing horribly at the same time* It it just me or is everyone scared of you? I should write a fic sometime. Like, a Ghost!Tricia one where you just walk around trying to live a normal life while scaring the living souls out of everyone you meet.'_

' _...'_

' _Nonono, it's 'float around' since you're a ghost, ya know.'_

' _ANYWAYS…'_

"Nice to run into you, Killua. Was that Hanzo just now?" Killua quickly got over his momentary shock of Tricia dropping down from seemingly nowhere.

' _PFFFFTTTT YOU MANAGED TO SCARE A ZOLDYCK.'_

' _Why, thank you.'_

"That was Hanzo. How did you manage to hide your presence like that?" Killua asked.

"I picked it up here and there. A lot of criminals can sense someone else's presence. It's become a habit now."

"Oh. Is Hanzo your target? I'm pretty sure that 197 was his target." Huh, so the tag that she had caught was Hanzo's target. If she could catch up to him, it wasn't a stretch to trade tags.

"That's a pleasant surprise; I happened to find 197 a moment ago. I should probably chase after him before he runs away."

"Huh." Tricia immediately went after Hanzo via tree-hopping. A quick check with Yuki that he had stopped 300 meters in the direction that he had been going in. It wasn't difficult for Tricia to catch up with him and scare the living essence out of him by dropping out of the trees from nowhere.

' _Yo Princess! Been a while, no? Sorry, but Tricia here is going to beat that soul out of your body if you don't hand that tag over.'_

"If I'm not mistaken, you are number 294, Hanzo, and your target is number 197, right?" Hanzo gaped for a moment before collecting himself, then gaped some more when he realized that the person before him had somehow figured out this.

"O-Oh, if I remember, you go by Hawk, right?"

"That is correct. I was wondering if you were up for trading tags. I happen to have your target's." Hanzo blanked out for a second and then realized what Tricia meant. At that point, he realized that he had two options which were 1) trade tags with Tricia and find three other ones or 2) fight her and win. Most might choose the latter option, but Hanzo wasn't as idiotic as he looked; he knew that Tricia was around his level, if not, higher. The fact that she had been able to sneak up on him already said a lot about her abilities, according to Hanzo.

"Where is it?" Hanzo asked. He wanted to at least confirm that Tricia really did have the tag before trading with her. Tricia pulled the tag out from one of the pockets in her cloak and held it up for Hanzo.

"Are you trading?" Tricia pressured. she found unlikely that Hanzo would somehow run off with both of the tags. After all, according to Kelsi, she still had at least one Phase left in the Exam. In that one phase, it was possible for Tricia to attack Hanzo somehow. She knew that Hanzo wasn't as stupid as he looked and that he knew that too.

"Yes." Hanzo said, confirming the trade.

"On the count of three, throw your tag in my direction as far as possible. I'll do the same but in your's. After throwing your tag, go catch the one I threw. Any questions?" Hanzo shook his head. To him, Tricia's trade seemed pretty foolproof. She could tell is he was holding two tags in his hand so mixing the tags mid-throw was impossible. Hanzo took out his tag and showed it to Tricia before getting ready to throw it.

"One." Tricia readied the tag in her hand.

"Two." Hanzo tensed up, waiting for the signal.

"Three."

Two tags went flying in opposite directions. Both Tricia and Hanzo turned around right after throwing their respective tags and took off in their target's tag's direction.

' _Whew! That was fairly simple. Now we have 4 and a half days to burn. Should we meet up with Newton, Bleach Boy, Scarlet and Mr. Money?'_

' _I see no problem in it. Can you flash-search the place again?'_

' _Ok!'_ There was a moment of silence and Yuki searched the area.

' _OHMOTHEROFGODANDCREAMOFTARTARHISOKA' ' 'SLIKE100METERSCLOSETOTHEMANDWAITTHERE'SSOMEONEELSETHAT'SNEARHIMANDNEWTONWAITISTHATILLUMITHATISENSEOH GODWHATINTHEHOLYTOMBOFSNICKERDOODLESISNEWTONDOINGSOCLOSETOTHEM.'*_

 ***For those who couldn't read what Yuki said above, Yuki said 'OH MOTHER OF GOD AND CREAM OF TARTAR HISOKA'S IN THE AREA ALONG WITH NEWTON AND SCARLET AND BUT HE HASN'T RUN INTO SCARLET AND YET BUT HE'S LIKE 100 METERS CLOSE TO THEM AND WAIT THERE'S SOMEONE ELSE THAT'S NEAR HIM AND NEWTON WAIT IS THAT ILLUMI THAT I SENSE OH GOD WHAT IN THE HOLY TOMB OF SNICKERDOODLES IS NEWTON DOING SO CLOSE TO THEM.' ****

' _Well holy mother of cats, this is absolutely fan-freaking-tastic.'_

 ****Explanation for the creative curses? You don't understand how much fun it is to come up with them.**

' _Hisoka at 5:21 65 meters, Newton at 5:21 65.5m, Illumi at 5:22 64m, Scarlet at 6:44 51m, at 6:44 51.5m. We should meet up with the latter two so they can survive this exam. You'll have to take a detour in order to make sure that Hisoka doesn't run into us.'_

' _Got it.'_ Tricia plucked a flying tag out of the air before turning around to face Kurapika and Leorio direction. According to the mental image of the area that Yuki had sent her, Hisoka was already halfway to where they were. Chances were, she wouldn't be able to reach them before Hisoka did.

' _Yuki, do you have one of your analysis handy?'_

' _Yup, talking 0-10 on a non-nen human scale, Scarlet's got 5 stamina, 4-6 skill, 6-7.5 intelligence, 3-6 endurance, 4-5 strength. Overall score, I'd say, ehh, 25-27.5. Leorio's got 3 stamina, 1.5-2 skill, 1-3 intelligence, 2-4.5 endurance, 3 strength. Overall score is 11-15.'_

For reference, in simple terms, stamina is how long you can run, skill is how well you can do something (in this case, something fighting-related), intelligence is how good a strategy you can come up with, Endurance is how many hits you can take, strength is how hard you can punch something. 0 is a civilian person with no ability in that field at all, 5 is your average fighter, 10 is a master. The same applied for overall scores, although they were slightly different; 0 for invalids, 5-10 for the average civilian, 25 for an average fighter (or soldier), and 50 is an absolute boss. That is Yuki's judging abilities for non-nen human people.

' _In order words, they don't have a snowball's chance in hell.'_

' _Hisoka is an easy 50+ on that same scale. You need to judge him on the 'non-human nen' scale in order to get a non-crazy score.'_ Tricia bergan tree-hopping in the direction of Kurapika and Leorio. Within a minute, she was able to reach where they were. When she dropped out of the trees, you guessed it, she scared the crap out of them.

"Oh, nice to meet you, Hawk-san." Kurapika said politely while Leorio gaped at the masked bounty hunter that just dropped out of nowhere.

"Just Hawk is fine."

"Where the heck did you come from?!" Leorio asked, much less formal than Kurapika.

"The trees, if you couldn't tell. We do appear to be in a forest after all." Yuki sniggered at Tricia's very Tricia response. Leorio, on the other hand, did not seem amused. Kurapika seemed amused at Leorio's reaction. "On the other hand," Tricia continued before Leorio could say something else, "If I am not mistaken, Hisoka did run into you two not too long ago, right?"

Kurapika nodded. "How did you know?"

"It's hard to miss a _slightly_ psychopathic joker practically dripping with bloodlust, if you know what I mean. Is Hisoka Gon's target? I caught sight of him trailing after Hisoka."

"Yes, he meant to tell you on the boat, but Gon couldn't find you." Tricia sweat-dropped.

' _Am I really that hard to find?'_

' _Must be Kelsi's training. I knew that she should have given me a larger allowance.'_

"Well, sorry about that, I have a tendency to be invisible around most people." She stated. Yuki could feel Kurapika and Leorio straining to figure out whether she was being sarcastic or not.

"Oh." Was their only response. Tricia looked around before changing the topic.

"What are you guys doing now? I already collected 6 points so I'm kind bored at this point."

"I have six points as well, though Leorio only has three. We were searching for his target, number 294, Ponzu. I assume that we are teaming up then?" Tricia nodded before gathering what she remembered about Ponzu. It was kind of obvious that they would participate in some kind of fighting tournament at some point, so both her and Yuki had made it a priority to gather basic info on the examinees that would most likely pass the first few phases.

' _Oh wait, Ponzu smelled like poisons.'_ Tricia mentally facepalmed when Yuki had brought up the obvious. Of course, they would be facing off against someone who used poisons.

' _Oh great. Killua has an excuse for being immune to poisons, being a Zoldyck and all, but I'm just a regular bounty hunter to them.'_

' _And I'm sure that Killua isn't immune to all poisons. Stab him with some of Kelsi's S-Class poison combined with an S-rank Ben's, and I bet that he'll be down in less than an hour without a medic at hand. The only reason why Kaikos can handle it is because you guys can stall the poison for a long enough time to bleed it out. That stuff no joke destroys you on a cellular level."_

' _Let's just hope that we can avoid being poisoned by her.'_

' _Agreed.'_

"Have you gotten any leads on her location?" Both Kurapika and Leorio shook their heads.

"We were planning to check the shore were we were dropped off." Kurapika responded.

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

 **-End of Day Three-**

 **Status:**

 **Finished Magi: The Magic of the Labyrinth**

 **Cup Noodle Count:**

 **Yuki:**

 **Finished - 37**

 **Remaining - 151**

 **Tricia:**

 **Finished - 5**

 **Remaining - 41**

 **Other:**

 **20+ Snickers bars stolen from Lennex and then devoured**

 **Plus 10+ packs of M &Ms**

 **Random Thought(s) of the Day:**

 **Where does Hawk get those Cup Noodles?... - Kurapika**

 **I wonder why the Snicker bars are going down faster than I ate them… - Lennex**

 **-Start of Day Four-**

"No dice." Tricia sighed to Kurapika for the nth time, "I swear, how hard is it to find one girl on an island?"

' _Pretty hard, it seems.'_ After an entire day of telepathic searching, Yuki had been completely drained the previous day and could only manage a Yuki Comment here and there. Combined with the fact that the pace Kurapika and Leorio walked was aggravating compared to what Tricia was used to, needless to say, the bounty hunter was rather mentally exhausted.

"How do you usually find your targets?" Kurapika inquired. At some point, all three of them had developed some kind of mutual bond while searching for Ponzu.

"Eh," Tricia answered, not really having an answer, "Being a bounty mean that the government pretty much always has some kind of basic info on you. Then I just follow the bounty's trail until it leads me to them. It's not rocket science or anything, finding a bounty, that is."

"Oh." he responded, slightly startled by the simplicity of Tricia's methods.

"Anyways," Tricia said while hauling herself out of the hole that she had been searching for Ponzu in, "We still haven't checked the cliffside for her yet. Splitting up is an option too, though that would be unwise with Hisoka and other examinees wandering around." Not like three of them would stand any better against Hisoka anyways. "In the meantime, we should probably meet up with Leorio and decide on our course of action then."

"I agree." Both of them then set off in the direction of Leorio, keeping an eye out for a certain green-haired girl along the way. Over the course for the previous day, Tricia was able to conclude that Yuki's stat estimates for Kurapika and Leorio had indeed been accurate. Kurapika was definitely the strategist type while Leorio was definitely an impulsive person whom Yuki would take the greatest joy in teasing.

"Did you two find her?" Leorio said as the two on them appeared at the agreed meeting spot.

"Take a wild guess."

"No." Both of them answered practically simultaneously. Leorio, who was used to this by now, crossed off a couple of places on the rough map of the island that all three of them had created. Kurapika was then handed the map where he filled in a bit more of it, drawing in some previously unknown areas of caves and re-drawing some of the coast in more detail.

"Ok," He announced, putting the map down briefly, "We should finish searching the caves along the west coast, the cliff side other there. and the forest in the area as well." Somewhere along the way the three of them had subconsciously voted Kurapika as the leader of their trio, hence the reason why he was leading the search instead of Leorio. "Hawk will search the remainder of the western caves, I'll handle the cliffside, and Leorio, you take the forest, got it?"

The two of them nodded in sync.

"Ok, then let's get going."

* * *

 **Later that Night**

"Hawk," Tricia looked over at the blonde. Tricia had volunteered to take the first watch and Kurapika was still up putting the finishing touches to a newly-revised map. "You said that you were a bounty hunter, right?"

"Yes." Tricia responded, slightly confused.

"Have you heard of the Phantom Troupe?" Tricia briefly remembered Kelsi mentioning them. They were a group of skilled nen-users, all with unique abilities. Their leader, Chrollo Lucifer, was strong enough to hold off Kelsi for a good minute.

"Yes, my employer has told me [ them."

"What do you know about them?" Well, turns out Kelsi while collaborating with Karima had figured out all of the Phantom Troupe abilities. Not like she could just hand out that info though.

"I can't tell you anything besides the fact that they have 13 members all of them are S-class bounties for a reason."

"Why?" He pressed.

"What I know about them is easily SS-class in terms of both price and risk. Unless you have some kind of qualification from my employer or from Netero, I can't tell you." Kurapika was silent for a while before the entirely of what Triica had said sank in.

"Wait, the Chairman? Who is your employer?"

"Kelsi Lukkel." Kurapika nearly destroyed the newly-drawn coast of Zevil's Island.

"No way," He said in awe, looking up at Tricia, "Kelsi Lukkel as in, the youngest Double Star hunter at the age of 19, founder of one of the most successful bounty hunting guild, right?"

"Also infamously known as an all-time narcissistic and miser. Especially when it comes to tax rates. But yes, she is the person you were talking about."

"So you are a member of the Ryoshi then." Kurapika said, referring to the Kaiko's cover name. "That does explain why you can't disclose information about the Phantom Troupe."

"Actually, there's something else that I could tell you, and probably should." Tricia continued, remembering something Hikaoki had relayed to her. "One, the leader of the Phantom Troupe has been scouting new members. Two, they will make a major move in the next year. Oh, and three, don't write any of that down." Kurapika looked at her quizzically for a moment before thanking her for the information.

"Oh, Hawk, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Do you know of any anyone that has Kurta eyes?"

"No."

"Oh, thanks anyway." Technically, Tricia had told the truth. What Kurapika had asked could have been interpreted in two way, whether she knew someone that _was_ a Kurta, or whether she knew someone that had gouged-out Kurta eyes in their _possession_. Well, in either way, he asked if someone she knew had Kurta _eyes._ Plural.

' _Huh, word-play I see.'_ Yuki commented out of the blue, by this point, telepathic communication wasn't as tiring for the draiknor. Though it would take several more days of rest for Yuki to be at 100% nen capacity again.

' _Either way, I don't think Takuya would appreciate it if we revealed one of his abilities.'_

' _True true, not even the entirety of the Kaikos know about his Kurta eye. The only reason why we know about that is because we were on the same platoon as him when we got ambushed that one time during the war.'_

' _Oh, I remember that time; we were all surprised by that.'_

' _Kelsi and Hikaoki were like, what? You didn't know about Takuya's left eye? Like, HOW WERE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW HE WAS HALF KURTA?!'_

' _I'm pretty sure you're exaggerating.'_

' _BUT STILL.'_

* * *

 **-End of Day Four-**

 **Status:**

 **Lots of anime OPs and EDs played throughout the day.**

 **Cup Noodle Count:**

 **Yuki:**

 **Finished - 35**

 **Remaining - 116**

 **Tricia:**

 **Finished - 3**

 **Remaining - 38**

 **Other:**

 **200+ Mars employes confused by the M &M sent in for breeding purposes. **

**Many hours on Pinterest spent by Yuki**

 **Random Thought(s) of the Day:**

" **So little Cup Noodles left, if only that jerk Kelsi would lower the tax rates." - Yuki**

" ***sneezes* I knew it, Yuki's complaining about my tax rates." - Kelsi**

 **-Start of Day Five-**

* * *

 **Many Hours of Searching in Vain Later…**

' _OH MY GOD.'_

' _Just-'_

' _-HOW-'_

' _-hard-'_

' _-IS-'_

' _-it-'_

' _-TO-'_

' _-find-'_

' _-ONE-'_

' _-girl?!'_

' _NAILED IT!'_ Explanation? Yuki was bored and had been inspired by a Tumblr post.

' _On the other hand-'_

' _-we can finish each other's sentences now?'_

' _...we still haven't found Ponzu yet.'_

' _Ohhhh… Yeah.'_

' _*sigh*'_

' _I, the Ultimate Otaku Yuki, officially declare that your lifespan has been shortened by three seconds.'_

' _Huh?'_

' _*gasp* *faints* Don't tell, me, you haven't heard about Yuki's Law of Sighing?'_

' _...'_

' _Every time you sigh, your lifespan is shortened by three seconds.'_

' _...ok.'_

' _Huh, what is this… Whaaa-"_

 _-_ _ **aaat, Wait, this the the fourth wall. I JUST BREACHED THE FOURTH WALL HI TRICIA CAN YOU SEE ME- NO YUKI GET BACK IN THE STORY. But why? Can I narrate the rest of the chapter? NO, YOU ARE A OC OF THE AUTHOR. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BREACH THE FOURTH WALL. NOOOOOOOOOOO RULES EXIST TO BE BROKEN. *Blows up Narrator A* *Ties Narrator A Up* *Throws Narrator A in a corner***_

 _ **OK I AM NOW THE NARRATOR OF ILLUSION.**_

 _ **-LINE THINGY-**_

Wait, how do I narrate a story? Oh, idk, I guess I just have to say what's going on. Ok, Tricia looked like she's weirded out by my disappearance. Scarlet and Tricia are discussing about going to the meet up point tomorrow or something, idk. is agreeing with them, I think they're going to get three more of those tag thingys so can pass if he don't find Ponzu… Oh look! A squirrel! OMG, THAT TAIL THOUGH. SO FLUFFY. Actually, on that topic, BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA SEASON THREE IS OUT. Let's all agree, Bnha is awesome and we were all waiting for season three. Speaking of season threes, I CANNOT be the only one who is waiting for Noragami season three. Speaking of new seasons, Attack on Titan season two was- OH GOD HOW DID NARRATOR A GET OUT OF THOSE BINDS OH-

*incomprehensible Yuki swearing and cursing* *many explosions fired* *Narrator A swearing about the property damage bill* *a reluctant draiknor is thrown back over the fourth wall*

*Ahem*

 **-End of Day Five-**

 **Status:**

 **Tricia now officially has Renaissance stuck in her head.**

 **Cup Noodle Count:**

 **Yuki:**

 **Finished - 38**

 **Remaining - 68**

 **Tricia:**

 **Finished - 3**

 **Remaining - 35**

 **Other:**

 **Many Snickers devoured out of randomness**

 **Random Thought(s) of the Day:**

" **Where was Yuki?..." - Tricia**

" **Day 3, I have yet to figure out how Hawk fits Cup Noodles into his bag." - Kurapika**

 **-Start of Day Six-**

* * *

"We're almost there." Kurapika confirmed when he noticed the trees around them thinning out. The three of them had set out to the meeting place at around noon after they had done a quick search of the area for Ponzu.

Their plan was as followed, they would go the the meeting point, where they would either find Ponzu or get three more tags so Leorio could pass. A common strategy, and others would be using it too.

"Kurapika! Leorio!" Gon said as he appeared next to the three of them, "Oh, Hawk!" Tricia sweatdropped once again, as Gon had clearly noticed her later than the other two.

"Did you get Hisoka's tag?" Kurapika asked. Gon paused for a moment before responding with a quick yes. It didn't take a genius that something had happened during Gon's hunt.

"Did the three of you get your targets?" Both Tricia and Kurapika nodded, while Leorio quickly explained his situation.

"Wait, if Ponzu works with strong poisons, I should be able to smell them." Tricia stared at Gon as be began sniffing for Ponzu.

' _Is he a bloodhound or something?'_

' _No doubt about it, I knew it, with that hair and sense of smell, NEWTON'S AN ALIEN.'_

"Leorio! I've found her!" With only a quick exchange of glances, the three of them sprinted after Gon, who was waiting patiently for them.

"Ok!" Gon exclaimed excitedly after the three of them had caught up with him. "Let's go."

-Line-

After many bushes and thorns later, Ponzu scent had led Gon to an unknown cave in the middle of a forest. Many, many, many prior experiences with caves instantly told Tricia that it was a trap. Cave in the middle of nowhere? Cave seems harmless? No sign of human life even though a human _has_ entered the cave?

TRAP.

And something told Tricia that they would be walking straight into it.

"I'm going in." Leorio announced. Even Gon looked surprised.

"It's a trap." The three of them said at exactly the same time to Leorio.

Leorio threw a stick into the cave.

The stick flew in the cave.

The stick clattered to the cave floor.

The stick remained unshredded.

"See? No trap."

Tricia face _floored_.

"Let me tell you something, Leorio." Tricia said while getting up. " _People are not sticks._ " Leorio looked straight ahead, seeming to have only gotten more motivated by Tricia's advice.

"I'm still going in."

Tricia resisted the urge to punch Leorio out of pure frustration. There were no joke _tens_ of _thousands_ of ways to create a trap that a stick wouldn't set off.

"Ok, Einstein. Just don't curse me in the afterlife if you die." Leorio picked up a longer stick and his suitcase, preparing to go in.

"Don't come after me if I don't come back out." He said approaching the cave. Within a minute, he was out of Tricia's view.

One minute passed.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five. Yuki checked the clock

Six. Kurapika started pacing.

Seven. Gon was getting restless.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

"We're going in."

Tricia _sighed._

One minute later, Tricia was staring a a veil of snakes guarding the exit.

" _Soooo,_ what did we learn here?" Tricia said, turning to face Leorio. Said examinee gasped for breathing before proceeding to mumble a response.

"Listen to the bounty hunter."

" _Exactly."_

When the three of them had walked in, the first thing that greeted them were 1) a half-angry half-trying not to die poisoned Leorio 2) a much more calm Ponzu and 3) a very dead body. Turn around and Tricia found the exit covered in poisonous snakes. A quick exchange of words with Ponzu informed them that the snakes had been trained to attack anyone who exited the cave or approached their master, the dead body, who was revealed to be a snake charmer.

In other words, they would trapped them there.

"We have to find the antidote first so we can save Leorio." Gon stated clearly, having no doubt about the next course of action.

' _Oi, Tricia, in worst case scenario, your blood can cure them of poison, no?'_

' _It should work..'_

' _Thank the holy god of Twinkies.'_

' _..But they would have to be half-dead in order for them to not remember it.'_

' _That is true… Let's just hope that Gon finds a way to get out of this.'_

"I'm going to search the body for the antidote. He should have it on him." Kurapika did not approve of Gon's reckless decision.

"Gon! If you don't find it you'll die!" He exclaimed. Gon stood unwavered.

"If I don't do it, Leorio will die." Tricia was slightly taken aback at Gon's decision. Not many ordinary twelve-year-olds could plunge into a dangerous situation to risk their own live for a friend's.

Then Gon was _covered_ in snakes. Even his hands, which were quickly skimming over the dead body in search of the antidote, had become covered in snakes. Both Kurapika and Tricia could only watch as Gon was bitten dozens of times by venomous snakes.

"Found it!." Gon said through many swarming snakes. A severely bitten Gon pulled back from the dead snake charmer, body covered in swollen snake bites. In his hands, was a small bottle that Tricia assumed was the antidote. Kurapika instantly took the antidote and began applying it to both Gon and Leorio. In almost no time, both Gon and Leorio were cured of the poison.

"Now we just have to find a way to get out of here." Kurapika sighed, Tricia couldn't help but slightly agree with him. He had just used up all the doses of the antidote and Gon and Leorio, so none of them sans Tricia could freely risk running through snakes again.

"Actually," Ponzu said, speaking up for the first time since their arrival, "I do have one more dose of sleeping gas. The thing is, it will take at least five minutes for the gas to set in. By that point, we would be knocked out along with the snakes."

' _Oh crap.'_ Tricia said the second Ponzu mentioned sleeping gas. ' _Realistically, how long can a person hold their breath?'_

' _11 minutes is the world record. So, 8-9 minutes is a realistic time.'_

"That's ok!" Gon piped up. "I can hold my breath for eight minutes and carry everyone out in that time frame."

"Same." Tricia said. "I've trained for this kind of stuff." That left three people, Kurapika, Leorio, and Ponzu. Tricia was pretty confident that the two of them combined would be able to handle the three of them.

"My only request is that I have Bourbons tag in return." Ponzu added on. Gon nodded, revealing that he had found Borboun's tag while searching for the antidote. The green-haired girl pulled out a contraption that Tricia assumed was the sleeping gas. Gon took a deep breath, waiting for Ponzu to set it off.

"One." Ponzu announced.

"Two." Gon tensed a bit.

"Three." Ponzu pulled the tab, releasing the gas into the air.

Within minutes, almost everyone around had collapsed on the floor. Gon was silently counting off the five minutes that it would take to ensure the unconsciousness of the snakes that guarded the exit.

'So boring…' Yuki said, yawning despite the fact that the draiknor had gotten a full night of sleep.

'How long has it been since Ponzu released the sleeping gas?' Yuki had checked the time when the five minutes had started, so Tricia had been relying on that.

'Eh, 4 minutes or so. I started counting in the middle of a minute so it's not all that reliable.'

A while later, Gon made the first move, signaling to Tricia that the five minutes were up. Gon picked Kurapika and Leorio with some difficulty, leaving Tricia to carry Ponzu out of the cave.

' _Still, I wonder how Gon has those superhuman abilities.'_ Tricia said, having observed Gon enhanced senses of everything.

' _Huh, you are right, It's not like he had a personal trainer named Kelsi or something.'_

After the two of them set the unconscious three on the ground well outside the cave, Gon just kind of sat there for a moment, just enjoying the privilege of breathing air again. Tricia walked over and took Ponzu's tag from one of her pockets, then replacing it with Bourbon's.

"Gon, here's Ponzu's tag," The bounty hunter said, handing the respective tag over to Gon.

"Thanks! I'll give it to Leorio when he's awake." Gon stood up, accepting the tag and brushing the dirt off his legs.

"We should probably carry Kurapika and Leorio somewhere else, preferably a higher concealed location." Tricia said, going off of her experience from both the war and rescue missions.

"Ok!" Gon said, "How about over there?" Tricia looked the direct Gon had been pointing in. He had picked a forest-covered cliff a bit farther away from the meeting place. The boat would be picking them up first thing in the morning, allowing them to reach the location in the early morning/night.

Both of them were able to reach the cliff in an hour or so, carrying something heavier than his body weight had significantly slowed Gon down. A couple of hours after they had arrived, Kurapika and Leorio began waking up. Gon handed Leorio his suitcase, having remembered to bring it along with them.

"Where's Hawk?" Kurapika asked when he noticed the absence of said bounty hunter.

"He's keeping watch right now. I'm going to switch with him in a couple of hours." Gon replied. Now that they had collected all of the points they needed, there was no reason for them to move around. In the long term, moving around was a better idea, but they only needed to stay the night. "We'll head toward the meeting place early in the morning."

"Oh," Kurapika said, brushing the dirt off his tabard while getting up. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Ok!" By then, Kurapika was had disappeared from the clearing.

* * *

 **Tricia's PoV**

' _Scarlet's 3 meters 6 o'clock.'_

' _Ok.'_ Tricia dropped down to meet a surprised Kurapika.

"I swear, I will never get used to you dropping out of nowhere." The blonde said when Tricia landed in front of him.

"Habit." Tricia replied, ignoring Yuki who was scribbling down writing prompts for a potential Ghost!Tricia fanfiction. "Do you know who's taking third watch?"

Kurapika shook his head, "I'll take third then. Leorio should be fine with taking fourth. By then it should be morning, seeing as the sun's about to set. Oh, Gon's catching fish for dinner." Tricia went back into the tree after hearing Kurapika's quick report/plan. During the three days that the three of them had spent together, they had fallen into some kind of pattern. Kurapika acted as the leader, deciding their next course of action and who did what. Tricia acted similar to an advisor, giving her opinion to Kurapika every now and then. Leorio… was just Leorio.

'*Yawn* Looks like I better watch some good ole anime. The Ultimate Otaku has had too much action in real life.'

'Count me in. How about Magi: The Kingdom of Magic?"

'Sure! Ja'far is the BEST.'

* * *

 **-End of Day Six-**

 **Status:**

 **Finished and Started Magi: The Kingdom of Magic**

 **Cup Noodle Count:**

 **Yuki:**

 **Finished - 37**

 **Remaining - 31**

 **Tricia:**

 **Finished - 3**

 **Remaining - 32**

 **Other:**

 **Many more Snickers devoured out of randomness**

 **Random Thought(s) of the Day:**

" **I WANNA BE ABLE TO CREATE VOLCANOS TOOOOO. SINBAD YOU SO LUCKY." - Yuki**

 **-Start of Day Seven-**

Needless to say, the four Hunter Examinees were able to reach the meeting point without much hassle. When they arrived, there were 6 other examinees waiting for the boat to arrive. As if on cue, a small speck on the horizon gradually grew into the boat that had dropped them off on Zevil's Island exactly one week prior.

One of the Hunter Exam staff stepped off the boat and asked them to show their collected tags. All ten remaining applicants took out their tags, showing them to the person who was recording the tags they had.

Hanzo:, 198, 362, 89, 197

Hisoka: 384, 80, 281, 118

Pokkle: 53,105

Gittarackur (Illumi): 301, 371

Bodoro: 191, 34

Killua: 99, 199

Gon: 405, 44

Kurapika: 404,

Leorio: 403, 246

Hawk (Tricia): 71, 294

The staff quickly wrote down the tags they had, confirming that they each had 6 points.

"Ten applicants have passed the Fourth Phase."

Both Yuki and Tricia sighed in relief, glad that the manhunt was finally over.

* * *

 **DONE**

 **;;;I may or may not have finished this chapter in class, which is the reason why I'm writing this AN on my phone.**

 **Also the reason why this is going to be short, since it's more difficult to type on a phone than on a computer.**

 **SO SORRY THAT IS CHAPTER IS LATE.**

 **I had PARCC testing at the end of April and ended up not doing much on this fic because I missed Math and French, the two classes I always write in.**

 **A huge thanks to Kashiko Rivatyl for being the beta of this chappy.**

 **Next chapter: Hunter Exam: Fifth Phase**


	7. Hunter Exam: Fifth Phase

"Chairman Netero would like to personally interview each of you. Please come to the third room to the left on the second floor when your number is called. We will start with no. 44, Hisoka."

When Tricia first stepped foot on the boat that would take them off of Zevil's Island, the staff had almost immediately announced that each of them would be interviewed by Netero. For the past fifteen minutes or so, each examinee had been called up.

"Examinee no. 71, Hawk."

Tricia stood up from the bench she had been sitting on and slowly made her way to the room where they had been informed Netero was in. She stepped in, noticing the dim lighting and then sitting in the empty chair, adjacent to the one Netero was sitting in.

"Ok, Hawk-san," Netero said after shuffling a few papers that he was holding. "I just have a few questions to ask you." He began with his first one.

"Which examinees are you keeping an eye out for?" That was easy, at least.

"Killua, Illumi, and Hisoka." Netero scribbled her answers down on the paper, not surprised that she knew 'Gittarackur's true identity.

"Which examinees are you interested in?"

"None."

"Which examinees would you not want to fight?" _Oh,_ Tricia thought, _so the next phase is most likely a battle tournament._

"Hisoka, Illumi, and preferably Killua." Tricia said without missing a beat. Of course, she didn't want to fight any of the four people she spent majority of the time on Zevil's Island with, but she knew it was unrealistic to not want to fight seven of the remaining nine potential hunters.

"Huh," Netero said while writing the remainder of her answers down, "Interesting… you may leave."

* * *

The Next Day

After discussing it with Kurapika, Tricia and the other four were almost positive that the next phase was indeed a battle tournament, despite Bodoro insisting that it was a written exam.

This was further supported when Netero announced that he had drawn up the fighting brackets for the next phase; the board that would decide would they would be fighting had been covered up by a cloth.

As soon as Netero pulled the sheet off, revealing the bracket, needless to say, all ten of them were surprised.

 **Bracket:**

 **(((((Hanzo vs. Gon) vs Pokkle) vs. Killua) vs. Gittarackur) vs ((((Kurapika vs. Hisoka) vs Hawk) vs Bodoro) vs Leorio))**

"So there's only one winner?" Someone among them said. Netero shook his head, quickly brushing aside the false claim.

"Only one loser." Netero said, grinning at the same time. Tricia recognized that smile, and she knew it as the "I have an idea" smile. Not that she a good history with that facial expression, though. "You win if your opponent surrenders. If you kill your opponent, you will be the loser. If someone else interferes your fight, you will also be the loser."

"Then, why are the brackets uneven? Some people get up to five chances while others get two." Netero's grin widened even more, making Tricia want to sprint out of the room right then and there.

"I seated all of you based on your potential as a hunter. Those who have more potential have more chances."

"Could you tell us how you seated us?" This time, Tricia recognized it as Killua who has asked the question.

"NO!" Netero replied, scaring the souls out of everyone who hadn't been expecting the sudden shift in tone. "But I can tell you three factors that came into play. 1. Physical strength 2. Mental strength 3. Overall Impression. Since you all made it to the final phase, it's taken for granted that you are already strong. So, the first one isn't as important as the other two." All of the examinees briefly took in the new information, trying to figure out why they had been seated in that particular place.

A quick glance told Tricia what Netero had considered. Hisoka, Kurapika, Hanzo, and Gon shared one thing in common, the ability to think themselves out of a tricky situation. While she hadn't seen that side of Hanzo yet, the fact that he was alive while being a ninja told her otherwise. People who lacked that ability (ex: Leorio) had gotten placed with fewer chances.

' _Ohhhh, that makes more sense.'_ Yuki said, drawing back to the first day on the Zevil's Island. During Yuki's first flash-search, both of them had noticed someone hiding in the trees near her, using Zetsu. Both of them had panicked at first, as they were confident that Hanzo didn't know Nen, but then settled down when Yuki had noticed that the person wasn't Hisoka or Illumi. ' _The stalker was someone from the Hunter Association. That also explained why Scarlet and Leorio had their own stalkers too.'_

"That concludes all that I have to say. The first match, Hanzo vs. Gon, will commence." Gon and Hanzo both moved out of the sidelines, entering the mini-arena that had been set up in the middle of the room.

"Oh! You're the person that was following me during the Fourth Phase." Hanzo exclaimed once he saw the person that would be regulating their match. Majority of the examinees wore an expression of shock when they realized that they had been followed during the week on Zevil's Island.

"Yes, Indeed I was." The person said, responding to Hanzo's observation before continuing with his job. "Begin."

It didn't take long for Hanzo to gain the upper hand. Before Hanzo proceed to practically torture Gon, he had a show of showing off, balancing himself on one finger, and bragging that by the age of 12, he had already killed a man.

' _That means that you had your first kill when you were 12. T'aint something to brag about. Look, Bleach Boy doesn't seem all that impressed either.'_ Killua, along with Tricia, was rather bored at Hanzo's bragging show. Even Kelsi didn't fall back to making minor achievements seem great, she mostly stuck to flashy fights and making map-makers update the geography of wherever she fought. Creating new landscapes, cave systems, making and filling in ravines, all of them Kelsi had done

Once Hanzo was finished showing off some tricks that he learned, he began using Gon as his personal punching bag. Tricia had not been looking forward to this part, and sincerely hoping that the following battles would pair up people with a larger gap in mental strength.

When it came to battles that would only end if someone surrendered, it wasn't really a battle, but more of a test of mental strength.

Gon stayed in for 2 hours, a couple minutes into the "battle", Kurapika's eyes went red, confirming Tricia's theory that Kurapika was a Kurta. Multiple times, Leorio was extremely close to interfering with the fight. Near the end of the two hours, Hanzo threatened that he would break Gon's arm if he didn't surrender. One denial later, a sickening _snap_ echoed through the room, painfully reminding Tricia of how some of the Kaiko members had met their fate during the war against the werewolves.

"That's it!" Hanzo cried out in frustration. "I give up!"

"Huh?" Gon said through a rather swollen face.

"You just won't surrender, so I'll just get my win off of the next battle."

"Huh?!" Gon repeated, more surprised this time, "I don't want to win like that; I want to beat you in a proper match!"

A rather annoyed Hanzo promptly called Gon a moron, and then flung him toward the ceiling. After Gon was carried out of the arena and into a medical bay, Hisoka and Kurapika were up.

Needless to say, Tricia wasn't exactly excited to see the joker in his home turf. The 'no killing' rule did little to comfort her, as she knew that Hisoka had bigger things to worry about than a Hunter license.

On the other hand, she felt as though the hardest fight had been over. To her at least, she was almost confident that the five of them would be able to pass the phase with little difficulty, assuming that Hisoka didn't decide to pull a Hisoka.

Kurapika wasn't stupid, and knew that he didn't have a snowflake's chance in hell of defeating Hisoka. So the blonde would surrender and give the win to Hisoka. Hanzo would win hands down against Pokkle, who was an archer. Killua would easily win against Pokkle, Illumi would win against Pokkle. As far as Yuki could tell, Kurapika was ok in hand to hand combat with his specialty in bokken. Tricia, who was also a sword user, would no doubt be able to win against him. Kurapika could win against Bodoro, who was a martial artist and carried no weapons, Leorio would be able to take care of Bodoro. That left Pokkle vs. Bodoro. Yuki and Tricia didn't really care about the outcome but there was no way an archer would win in an arena fight against a martial artist.

' _But ya know, how predictions don't like to be real.'_

' _Reality can be a pain in that way. This is why we need Kelsi here.'_

' _Ya, her predictions are frighteningly accurate, and her plans rarely go astray. When they do, she has no problem coming up with a new one. Huh, actually in this situation, Kelsi, Takuya, Lennex, Hikaoki, Ruki… all of them would be able to come up with a probably more accurate prediction.'_

"Begin." In a second, Kurapika had taken his bokken out, prepared to defend himself from the joker. Tricia could easily tell that Hisoka was holding back, gauging Kurapika's strength. Kurapika, on the other hand, was fighting for his life, barely keeping up with the joker.

Just when Kurapika let his guard down for half a second, Hisoka, instead of going in for the kill, leaned in and whispered something to the blonde. Tricia saw the Kurta's eyes widen, and then Hisoka backed off, and resigned.

' _Wait, wha..?'_ Then the realization set into Yuki into hysterics. ' _OH GOD YOU ARE FIGHTING HISOKA NEXT.'_

Tricia swore under her breath. Clearly, karma did not like her today. Her life practically depended on whether Hisoka thought she knew nen or not, and she did not like those chances.

' _Ok, I used nen during the third phase blowing up the floors and wall. Fourth phase I only used Zetsu here and there.'_

' _Zetsu's fine since normal people can learn to do it. The question is whether he noticed the explosions at the end of the third phase. Either way, you should only rely on your swords during your fight.'_

' _Got it.'_

The battle between Hanzo and Pokkle was over fairly quickly, Hanzo simply threatened to break Pokkle's arm if he didn't surrender, as expected, Pokkle was more than happy to resign than lose his right arm for the following couple months.

"Hisoka and Hawk, please step up." Tricia walked into the makeshift arena, mind rushing through multiple outcomes. Hisoka took his place around 8 meters away from her. "Begin."

Almost immediately, Tricia unsheathed her katana that was strapped onto her back, using it to block a blow from

Hisoka. They exchanged several blows, almost evenly matched for a moment or two. The rest of the crowd watched in awe, as both of them were fighting at an inhuman speed.

Tricia slid back for a second, knowing that Hisoka would charge at her the second he had the chance. Since Hisoka was unarmed, besides his cards that wouldn't really work at close ranged combat, Tricia knew that Hisoka would rely on dodging and slipping past her blows rather than blocking them.

As predicted, Hisoka charged at her. Tricia tightened her grip on her sword, preparing for the next exchange of attacks. During Hanzo's fight with Pokkle, she had trickled a poison that would cause paralysis on her wakizashi.

' _We're screwed if this doesn't work.'_

Tricia feinted a blow to her right, changing the course of the blade mid-way to force Hisoka to dodge to her left. At that time, Tricia drew her wakizashi from its sheath, stabbing the poisoned blade into a rather surprised Hisoka.

Both of them leap back after the brief exchange, Hisoka rather amused by her trap. He had seen the shorter sword just in time to leap back, preventing his lungs from being stabbed-then-sliced into two. Fortunately, he had only been able to dodge most of the damage that would have been caused. A centimeter-deep incision now lay right over his heart.

Tricia couldn't help but feel relieved that she had at least poisoned Hisoka. Now, all she had to do was to wait until the poison started acting. Though, something told her that the poison wouldn't be as effective on Hisoka than it should be.

"Interesting~" Hisoka said, speaking for the first time since their encounter in Swindler's Swamp. Just hearing the pedophile speak sent chills up her spine. Tricia also had a sudden urge to use Yuki's second Hatsu to send Hisoka flying through the stratosphere. "I was wondering where your other sword was~"

Tricia shifted her stance to her dual-wielding one. She didn't think that Hisoka would fall for the same trick twice, but if she had to, she could use a similar trap using her still-hidden knife.

"It would such a waste to kill you now~" Hisoka said, a creepy smile spreading across his face.

In a fraction of a second, Hisoka suddenly appeared next to her, Tricia barely noticing his appearance. She would had stabbed him if not for the lack of bloodlust and the message he had for her.

"Tell your master that I haven't forgotten about her, kitten~"

Almost immediately, Hisoka casually strolled out of the arena, declaring that he had resigned from the fight.

Tricia returned to the sidelines, still rather dazed/disturbed by Hisoka's message. Kurapika and Leorio were both staring at her in awe from her fight.

"How did you fight like that?" Kurapika asked her after she had returned to where she had previously been fighting.

"Huh?" Tricia responded. To the bounty hunter, her fight had seemed rather mediocre compared to some of the Council member's fights, which were usually fast enough that she had to use nen to enhance her already enhanced vision in order to get a concept of what was going on.

"Your fight was over in a matter of seconds, and almost faster than Hanzo and Pokkle fight, which didn't even involve fighting. None of us even knew what was going on until Hisoka resigned." Tricia briefly recalled her fight, then compared it to the other fights that had taken place.

"Oh, I guess it was over pretty quickly."

"You guess?!" Leorio exclaimed, shocked by the bounty hunter's level of skill. "Just how strong are you?!"

"I'm pretty weak actually, compared to the other members of my bounty hunting guild." Leorio's jaw dropped at her statement.

"What!? Just which bounty hunting guild are you part of?"

"The Ryoshi." If possible, Leorio's jaw dropped even further.

"No way." Kurapika glanced over to Leorio, confirming that Tricia was indeed a member of the strongest bounty hunting guild. Killua had happened to overhear their conversation and didn't seem all that surprised to learned that Tricia was part of the Ryoshi, the nemesis of the Zoldyck family.

"Pokkle and Killua. Please step into the arena." Both examinees walked into the taped square, Pokkle looking nervous and Killua appearing to be bored.

"Begin.:

"I give up." Yuki blinked in surprise, the draiknor hadn't expected Pokkle to give up that quickly. It was Tricia that pointed out that it had been Killua who had surrendered.

Pokkle gaped at Killua, shocked that one of the strongest examinees had just given up a chance at passing the exam.

' _wAiTWaITWAIT. BLEACH BOY IS GOING TO FIGHT ILLUMI NEXT.'_

"What?" Pokkle said, after he had gotten over of the initial shock.

"I think it would be boring to fight you." Killua shrugged, confident that he would be able to win the next fight against his older brother.

' _Oh god… Killua vs. Illumi is not going to be pretty.'_

' _Illumi is about as strong the both of us combined in a battle situation, though you would be able to beat him since you counter him like crazy.'_

Pokkle walked off the arena rather angry. Mostly angry that is opponent had refused to acknowledge him, somewhat angry that he felt as though he didn't deserve the license.

"Hisoka and Bodoro, please step up."

Bodoro and Hisoka's fight was over rather quickly, as the difference in strength was obvious to absolutely everyone.

"Killua and Gittarackur, please step up." Both Zoldycks stepped into the arena and faced each other. Tricia definitely had a bad feeling about the fight.

"Begin."

Almost immediately, the older Zoldyck activated Ren, directing the aura toward the white-haired assassin. Most likely terrorizing him beyond belief.

Tricia was tempted to use Ten, like Hisoka, so she wouldn't have to suffer standing in someone else's Ren without using Nen.

' _How sadistic can that needle-lover get?'_ Yuki commented, clearly unapproving of Illumi's method of imitating the younger assassin.

Illumi began taking the needles in his face out, changing from his Gittarackur disguise into his normal appearance. Tricia felt a sense of dread just looking at Illumi's emotionless eyes. She was sincerely hoping that he had not recognized her or overhear her conversation.

Illumi's gaze lingered on Tricia for a second, though she wasn't sure if it was just her being paranoid. The last time they had met each other was two years ago, when Tricia had accompanied Hikaoki and Takuya on a mission and happened to run into Illumi. She hadn't been wearing a face mask at the time and only saw him briefly.

"O-onii-san…" Killua said shakily out of fear.

"Hey." Illumi said in a monotone with blank eyes staring at Killua, who was trembling out of fear.

"That's Killua's brother?" Tricia heard Leorio say, she herself trying to appear normal and like she wasn't affected by Hisoka's constant staring and Illumi's Ren.

"I heard that you cut up Mom and Milluki."

"I guess." Killua responded, trying to sound as casually as possible to hide his obvious fear for his older brother.

"Mom was crying." He continued.

"Anyone would cry if their son did that to them." Leorio muttered next to Tricia.

"Tears of joy."

Leorio face _floored_ upon hearing what Illumi had to say.

"She was so happy to see that you'd grown up. But she was worried about you leaving home, so she asked me to check up on you. What a coincidence. I didn't know you want to be a Hunter. I'm trying to get a license for my next job." Tricia found herself edging Killua on, wanting to tell him to stand up for himself.

"I don't really want to be a Hunter. I just felt like taking the exam." Killua said, speaking up for the first time in the conversation. As the conversation dragged on, she could feel a sense of deja vu creep upon her, almost like she had seen something similar before.

"I see… That's a relief. Then I have some advice for you."

" _I have some advice for you."_

"You're not cut out to be a Hunter. You were born to be a killer."

" _You will never be a hunter. You are a killer."_

"You are a puppet of darkness, without passion. You don't want anything or wish for anything. As one who lives in the shadows, you can only feel pleasure when people die. That's how Dad and I raised you. What could you accomplish by becoming a Hunter?"

" _You can only be happy when people die. How could an assassin like you save lives?"_

"True, I don't desire to become a Hunter. But… I do have something I want…"

" _True, I might be an assassin. I might be a killer. But, there is something I want."_

"You don't."

" _You don't."_

"I do!-" "- _There is something I really want!"_

" _Then,-"_ "-Tell me what it is that you want."

" _I want to become friends-"_ "-with Gon!"

"That's impossible. " _You'll never be able to make friends."_ Your only concern when you meet someone is

whether you should kill them. " _That's how you were trained."_ You just don't know how to classify Gon because he's too dazzling for your eyes. " _You don't actually want to become friends with them."_

" _You're wrong!"_

"If you stay with him, _you'll kill them one day_. You'll get the urge to see if you can kill him or not. _Because you have the soul of a killer."_

"Snap out of it!" Though Leorio's comment wasn't directed at her, it was enough to pull her back into reality, ending the flashbacks that had begun to weave themselves into the current situation. "You are already friends with Gon!"

"Really? That's no good. He considers Kil a friend. Okay, I'll kill Gon." Tricia felt a newfound anger directed to Illumi. A killer doesn't need any friends. They'll only slow you down."

Illumi turned to the referee and began to ask about Gon's whereabouts. The referee responded by stating that Illumi was still an examinee, and that killing Gon would result in his disqualification.

"This won't do. I need a Hunter license to do my job… But if I kill them, I'll fail, and Kil will pass automatically.

Oh darn. The same thing will happen if I kill Gon." Illumi paused to a moment, wondering what his next move should be. "I know! I'll pass the exam before killing Gon." He then turned to face Netero, wanting to ask him a question.

"If I wait until after passing the exam, I can kill everyone here and still keep my license, right?"

"Yes, according to the rules." Netero responded, simply answering his question without adding his opinion.

"Did you hear that, Kil? You have to beat me if you want to save Gon." Illumi continued, walking closer and extending his hand toward Killua while intensifying his Ren. "Will you fight me for your friend's sake? You can't do it. Because you're more worried about whether or not you can defeat me. And you already have your answer: 'I'm not strong enough to beat my brother.' 'Never fight an enemy you can't beat.' I drilled that into you…" In a daze, Killua took a step back, attempting to flee from his older brother's grasp.

"Don't move! If you move an inch, I'll assume the fight has begun. There's only one way to stop me. You know what that is. But don't forget… if you don't fight me, your dear Gon will die."

Illumi's outstretched hand was now only a few inches away from Killua.

"I surrender. I lose…"

"Oh, that's good! Then the battle's over. I lied, Kil; I was lying about killing Gon. That was just a little test, but now I have my answer." Illumi said while walking closer to Killua, passing him as he returned to the sidelines.

"You don't have the right to make friends. Nor do you need friends. You should just listen to Dad and me, and do your job as you always have. When the time comes, I'll tell you to take the Hunter Exam. You don't need a license yet."

Killua followed after Illumi, walking off of the field rather shaken and expressionless. Tricia made a move to talk to him, but was interrupted by the referee.

"Leorio and Bodoro, please step up." Both examinees stepped into the arena, like many had before. "Begin."

It was almost over in a flash, too quickly for most of the people to comprehend the spray of blood. But for Tricia, what had happened was crystal clear.

Killua had killed Bodoro.

-Line-

It wasn't until a couple hours later that Gon woke up from the Medical Bay. Once Gon had joined the trio, Tricia could help but feel a bit exhausted after all of the drama that had occurred at the Exam. There was an argument concerning Killua being disqualified when Gon had arrived, initiated by Leorio, and a speech made by Gon about people who believed that they hadn't deserved the Hunter license. Killua's fight against Illumi had been on her mind, but it was difficult to worry about Killua when Hisoka's

" _Tell your master that I haven't forgotten about her, kitten~"_

Tricia wanted to unleash Mythic's Domination on Hisoka right then and there, but alas, she wasn't Kelsi and in turn, was unable to use her killer move. So the joker stood (alive) five meters to her left, creepy grinning in all his pedophilic glory.

Tricia was sure that Kelsi would be able to defeat Hisoka, considering how ridiculously overpowered Kelsi was, but somehow, she felt a sliver of doubt.

' _Keep in mind, Kelsi's not the leader of the Kaikos for no reason. She's one of the best strategists, and absolutely unrivaled when it comes to strategy during a fight. I've already told her Hisoka's message via Karima and Sonar, so she already has taken anti-Hisoka precautions.'_ Yuki assured her. Karima and her draiknor, Sonar, acted as the communication system for the Kaikos, with Sakurami and a couple other draiknors as backup. Karima's ability allowed her to create various objects that could act as a vessel for telepathic communication. Sonar had a telepathic range of 10k, so anyone within 5k of one of Karima's creations could communicate with Sonar.

' _Have you told Takuya or Keiron yet? Hisoka saw them when he ran into Kelsi, so he might target them too.'_

' _I've told all the Council members along with everyone that I could contact, which is pretty much everybody.'_ Despite what most people thought, Yuki was actually rather responsible when it came to serious matters and was very thorough when it came to taking precautions.

' _That's good to hear.'_ Tricia sighed out of relief, satisfied to know that Hisoka wouldn't be able to launch a surprise attack on one of the Kaiko members.

"Hawk?" Gon asked her in a hushed tone. His face was still bruised and bandaged in multiple places, and his arm in a sling, but otherwise, the green-haired boy looked fine. "How did the rest of the Fifth Phase go?"

"Hisoka surrendered during both Kurapika and my fight, but won against Bodoro. Hanzo got his win off of Pokkle, Killua surrendered during his fight with Pokkle and Gittarackur, who happened to be his older brother, Illumi. After that, Killua killed Bodoro and got disqualified." Gon glanced to the blank-eyed assassin, who had discarded his facade as Gittarackur.

"Do you know him?" Gon asked, "You spoke of Illumi as if you had met him before."

"The Zoldyck family and the Ryoshi share a bad history with each other because of an incident three years ago. I've met him a couple times before, the most recent one being two years ago." Gon nodded, understanding Tricia's explanation.

"I told everyone to meet outside a couple of minutes ago, we should probably meet up with them." Tricia quickly agreed with Gon, and headed out to the point where both Kurapika and Leorio were waiting.

"Gon! Hawk! Took you long enough to get here." Leorio called once they had been spotted by the old man and blonde. Clearly, he was not amused by their lateness.

"Sorry, Leorio." Gon said sheepishly, "I just wanted to ask Hawk a couple of things."

"Oh," Leorio responded, "Anyways, What did Hisoka tell you two?" Gon glanced at Kurapika and Tricia, clearly not understanding what was going on.

"Hisoka?..."

"Hisoka said something to the two of them before surrendering." Leorio quickly explained.

"He informed me that the Phantom Troupe would be meeting at the Yorknew auction, around seven months from now." The Kurta said after a moment of silence. Tricia debated for a moment whether or not to tell the three of them about Hisoka's message, then decided to tell them after Yuki confirming that no one was eavesdropping on their conversation.

"To put it simply," Tricia began, "you know how the leader of the Ryoshi is Kelsi Lukkel, right?" All three of them nodded. "Around a year and a half ago, Kelsi ran into Hisoka during one of the Phantom Troupe's raids. Hisoka fled when several other members of the Ryoshi came into the scene, probably realizing that he couldn't defeat them alone. Hisoka told me that he hadn't forgotten about Kelsi and that he would find a way to fight her again, this time one on one."

"What a creep…" Leorio said a moment after Tricia finished explaining. "Even Kelsi Lukkel wasn't able to beat him? How strong is that joker?"

"Kelsi wasn't able to go all out on Hisoka since she was guarding something, but Hisoka is still extremely strong for being to not die after an encounter with her." If Hisoka hadn't been lying, the Phantom Troupe would target the Yorknew city seven months from now, during the Yorknew auction. Considering his warning, he would most likely make his move during the Yorknew auction as well, since he could manipulate some of the other members of the Troupe to hold off any Kaikos that tried to interfere.

"We have to save Killua first." Gon piped up, wanting to save his best friend from his family as fast as possible. Kurapika and Leorio readily agreed to Gon decision, leaving Tricia in a rather awkward situation. Illumi might not have recognized her, but she was pretty sure that Killua's mother would recognize the face of the Kaiko that had told her that her beloved daughter had died during the war.

"Actually…" Tricia said, feeling the eyes of the three newly-appointed hunters bore into her very soul. _Some members of the Zoldyck family hold a death grudge against me?_ "Some of Killua's relatives… may or may not kill me on spot as soon as they find as much of a trace of me on their property."

The three of them stared at her for a moment.

"I'd like to stay alive, if you know what I mean." She continued, mentally head cannoning herself. _NOW IS HARDLY THE TIME FOR SARCASM, YOU FAILURE OF A KAIKO._

"Ok!" Gon said, enthusiasm unaffected by Tricia's decline of the invitation to bring Killua back. "Let's meet on September 1st, ok?"

"Of course." Tricia replied, the moment felt almost like the last episode of an anime, as cheesy as that sounded. She felt as though the madness and chaos of the Hunter Exam was finally over. Tomorrow she would go back to Meteor City, back to the daily routine of training, bounty hunting, and watching anime.

Little did she know, it was only the beginning of the chaos that had yet to come

* * *

 **Hi! Right here is a early update since that was written in 17 days, or slightly more than two weeks.**

 **The next arc is going to slightly filler-ish. DON'T RUN AWAY WHEN I SAY 'FILLER'. What I mean is that not much will happen, since it's mostly Tricia just developing her second/third Hatsu and giving the other members of the Kaiko clan some screen time.**

 **I feel kind of bad for my beta'r though, I just ask her to do timelines when I'm too lazy to rewatch the episodes. :P**

 **Next chapter: Cultivation Arc**


	8. Cultivation Arc: Part 1

**Hi! Just heads up before the chapter starts, I decided to write this chapter in first person PoV just to try it out :P**

* * *

 **-Trica's PoV-**

' _TRICIA!'_ I hear as a certain blue draiknor collided into me the second I step into Kelsi's realm. ' _I RAN OUT OF CUP NOODLES!'_

Fumbling with the clasp on my side bag, I somehow manage to pull out a crystal containing all of the pre-ordered Cup Noodles that Yuki had requested during the Hunter Exam. Yuki spots it almost immediately, taking it and pulling Cup Noodles out. I sighed in relief once Yuki was satisfied with the Cup Noodles. Mental Note: Do not go on two-week vacations without leaving Yuki 400+ Cup Noodles. It was around that time that I notice a familiar quiet aura surrounding the area.

"Hi Rina!" I call to the black-haired girl who was standing in the area. Her cloudy eyes look up to me, pinpointing my voice to my location.

"Hi!" She responses, "How did the Hunter Exam go? We were all freaked out when Yuki told us Hisoka's message." I sigh upon being reminded of the pedophilic joker. If there was anything that I hated more than public transportation, it had to be creepy stalkers.

"Fine, if you take out Illumi and Hisoka." I say, then noticing the unusual absence of a pink-haired sniper/bomber who usually greeted me after meetings. I waited for a moment, waiting for the bomber to show up in my field of vision, then finally giving up once I believed she wasn't in the vicinity. "Where's Alic-"

"Hey washboard!" I hear as said pink-haired girl tackled me from behind me. _Getting tackled twice in two minutes, this has to be a record._ She pulled me to the side with a notebook and pencil ready. "Spill. Meet any boyfriend material?"

I sigh almost the second I realized what was going on. Alice is a girl obsessed with dramas, K-dramas especially, and doesn't approve of the Kaiko's rather nonexistent love lives. Not that she has anything to say though.

"No."

"Aww," The pinkette sighed out of disappointment, then bounced back to her usual self in the same second. "Then, who'd you meet? Standard format, of course." I stared at her, hard, then giving in once I accepted my fate.

"Age 19, looks 23, around 190 cm, Leorio Paladiknight. Medical student, unknown blood type, Black crew-cut hair and glasses, usually wears a suit and carries a suitcase around. Most likely an Emitter." Alice scribbled all of this down, flipping to a new page once she finished writing down Leorio's profile.

"Next."

"Age 17, looks 16-17, around 170 cm, Kurapika. Swordsman and avenger, member of Kurta clan, unknown blood type, blonde hair and wears a tabard with training suit underneath. Minor reverse trap. Most likely Conjuror."

"Next."

This continued for a while, Alice writing down the basic profile of most of the examinees at the Hunter Exam, etc. By the time I finished telling Alice everything she wanted to know, Yuki has eaten at least 20 Cup Noodles and has resorted to playing Shogi with Rina.

"Huh…" Alice said, flipping through the various newly-added profiles of the Hunter examinees. I resisted the urge to run off and lock myself in a room somewhere to watch anime with Yuki for the rest of eternity. "The reverse trap, Kurapika, has some potential. He's also around our age-"

"No." I said immediately. Last time Alice said that, well… Let's just say that ended badly. Like, a shipping shrine and fanart badly. Alice looked up at me with puppy eyes, wanting a drawing of the blonde.

"Please?" She said, "Just a _sketch_ of what Kurapika looks like? I promise I won't draw any fanart."

"You said that last time too."

" _Please_?" Alice repeated, more forcefully this time. I look away, suddenly realizing how interesting a game of shogi could be. "Just _one_ sketch."

" _No._ " I say, now hoping for someone to get the pinkette off my back. Alice had somehow deemed me as the most 'shippable' person in the Kaiko clan. Everyone else was apparently either 'too old', 'too young', or 'not tsundere enough'. "I don't even like romance anime."

True, I found romances rather boring and anticlimactic. I was fine with minor romance, like Royai in FMAB, but Akagami no Shirayuki? No thanks.

' _Magic and Mythic's Battle Royale tournament in 30 min. I wanna beat Lennex or Gyro this time around.'_ I almost cry in relief, glad that at least Yuki would always have my back.

"Well, there's a Magic and Mythic's tournament in, like, 2 minutes so I have to go, like, _right now_ so bye." I relay to Alice as quickly as possible. Her eyes widened, understanding the importance of the tournament. Alice immediately let me go in favor of her own computer. If I remember correctly, she would be versing Rina for 25th place.

' _Thanks Yuki.'_

' _No prob. Anyday, anytime.'_

* * *

-Two hours or so later-

…

…

…

' _Hey, Yuki,'_ I said, getting up and out of my seat once the tournament was over.

' _Hm?'_ The draiknor responded, mouth stuffed with Cup Noodles. Yuki, Gyro, and Lennex had all agreed to not change their ranking, as it would ruin their line of usernames, but they still held unofficial tournaments against each other to figure out who was the best player. Once again, Yuki had lost to the two and was now binge eating out of anger.

During the Hunter Exam, especially during the Fourth Phase, I had done some thinking about new techniques, preferably, a new hatsu. One that could even out my skill set and hopefully make me stronger.

' _I've been thinking, we don't have any combined techniques, right?'_ Yuki stopping eating for a moment. Combined techniques were common between Kaikos and draiknors, as they were on a completely different level of their own. Put simply, a combined technique would be if Yuki and I used our nen at the same time to create a completely different technique that neither of us could perform on our own. Since I was a Manipulator, and Yuki a Transmuter, that would mean that with enough work, both of us would be able to practically use any type of ability.

' _Oh yeah!'_ Yuki responsive, coming to the same conclusion as I had. ' _That could totally work!'_

' _I was thinking of a Conjuror-based ability, like, summoning several weapons with different properties.'_

' _I see I see! That's where the combining comes in! There's a limit to the special properties that a purely Conjured weapon can have, so we just create the rest of the properties via other categories of nen!'_

' _Exactly.'_ I respond, wondering how Yuki had read my mind. ' _I've already started writing out some of the aspects of the ability during the train ride here. I was thinking about finishing the rough draft with you tonight or something.'_ I fished out a notebook from my side bag, handing it to Yuki who flipped to the pages that I was talking about with clawed hands/paws. How did Yuki flip pages only using claws? Honestly, I wasn't too sure.

' _Huh, I see… This is actually a pretty good idea for a conjoined ability. Ok! That settles it! We're completing this blueprint tonight!'_

* * *

-The Next Morning-

After a night of solid work and thinking, I flipped over the various pages of my handwriting and sketches, as there was a limit to what Yuki could do with claws.

' _I think we went overboard with some parts of this…'_ Looking back onto the bases of the new ability, I realized the sheer amount of work that we would have to do to make it possible.

' _Huh, you are right, but then again, there's not much you can do with illusions, wind, and explosives.'_ True, Yuki did have a point on that, in order to create a new ability, you had to learn some new stuff.

' _Yes I do get that, but hear this. Only covering the Transmutation, we have to learn how to Transmute blades, ice, lighting, light, and fire.'_

' _...I think I see what you mean. Then we have to learn to Conjuror a whole bunch of different swords.'_

' _That's not even counting the Manipulation required. Manipulating all of the transmuted stuff, my blood, and some of the Conjurored blades.'_

' _...But, WITH A WILL, THERE IS A WAY.'_

Oh, god, Yuki was actually going head first into this. Then again, I wasn't exactly expecting Yuki to give up.

' _Ok, since I'm already accustomed to using swords, we shouldn't have to spend all that much time in order to use our new Hatsu in battle. We should be able to finish by Mid-August.'_

' _Mid-August, huh, and the Auction is September 1st…'_ Taking Hisoka's message and the Phantom Troupe into consideration as well, our best option would be to somehow land a bodyguard job somewhere in the heart of Yorknew. One, bodyguard missions where well known to have a rather large pay and were frequently done in shifts, which meant we would be left to do whatever they wanted for at least 5 hours of the day. Two, if Hisoka was going to attack a Council member, the best option would be to have as many Kaikos as possible in Yorknew. Only Kelsi had a decent chance of defeating Hisoka, so the rest of us would have to rely on numbers.

' _During the auction, if we take a bodyguarding job, we'll have a reason to be as close as possible to the heart of Yorknew.'_

' _Huh, oh, Sonar telling me that Kelsi has a mission for you.'_ Sonar, as Karima's draiknor, acted somewhat as the chat room of the Kaiko realm, Kelsi also relayed messages through Sonar as well.

' _What are the details?'_

' _Simply, You, Takuya and Hikaoki will be tracking down some crazy serial killer. The crazy serial killer should lead you to the Shirokiba, which is a gang of even more crazy serial killers. At that point, you will infiltrate the Shirokiba, and capture the ultimate crazy serial killer, their leader, Tasatsu. Hikaoki and Takuya will be meeting at Seitohi.'_ Three of us? I frowned for a moment. It wasn't uncommon for Kaikos to team up during missions, but Hikaoki and Takuya were lone wolves that rarely teamed up. In the rare case that certain mission was too difficult for just one of them to take on, they teamed up with each other. The last time anyone else teamed up with them was two years ago when Takuya had suspected that they would run into some kind of trouble and brought me along as a means of escape.

' _Ok, Tell Kelsi that I'll be there in 5 minutes or so. Seitohi isn't all that all that far away so we should be able to teleport there without using too much of Kelsi's nen.'_ I replied, adding on that Seitohi most likely had one of Kelsi's realm portals since it was well known to host many wanted men along with one of the largest black markets.

I made the quick trip to the nearest teleportation crystal in a matter of minutes and was able to figure out the access code to Seitohi via Yuki and Sonar. Along the way, I had taken the time to grab my cloak and put on my face mask, making the transition from Tricia to Hawk in a matter of seconds. I always found it kind of strange that such a simple disguise would fool most people, and Lennex had once personally done an experiment on that (which was way too well funding considering the futility of the results. Which lead to this conclusion. As long as you didn't have weird eyes or hair color (ex: neon blue eyes with like, purple hair) the face-mask cloak disguise will fool 97% of the human population.)

' _44013'_ Yuki mentally says to me as I write the access code on the game-inspired crystal. The crystal began to glow a pale shade of blue once the access code of Seitohi was accepted, then I found myself standing in some dark alley. I looked around for a second, expecting to see the Council member and my older sister. One of Yuki's quick telepathic searches told me that Hikaoki and Takuya were actually right behind me.

' _Freaky…'_ I hear Yuki say when I turn around to meet my older sister and Takuya. I had to agree to Yuki, though. It had always amazed me how Takuya and Hikaoki could conceal themselves without using Zetsu, they had referred to it as simply 'suppressing' their aura.

"That was fast." Takuya noted, his bronze collarbone length hair tied back in a low ponytail and partly covering his left Kurta eye, which was a noticeably darker shade of brown than his other eye, although his right eye was currently silver. Hikaoki, who stood next to him, looked almost the same as she did the last time I saw her, bright, sharp amber eyes although her brown hair was now dyed black at the ends. I suddenly realized that in the midst of the chaos of ordinary life, it had been at least half a year since I had last seen my older sister. "How was the Hunter Exam?"

"Fine, minus Hisoka and whatnot." I replied, "Any leads on the guy who we're supposed to be tailing? Yuki just mentioned a whole bunch of crazy serial killers, Shirokiba, and Tasatsu."

"The guy who we're tailing goes by 'Mujihina'. He's a sensor type that uses senbon and a knife." I grimaced for a moment, cringing at the killer's terrible cover name. 'Mujihina' literally translated to ruthless, and sounded like a 40-year old woman's name. "He should be in the bar two blocks to our left. I haven't gotten the chance to tag him yet."

Quick explanation. Takuya's right eye had possessed a power corresponding to the Ravin clan. Simply, Ravin eyes turned silver when activated and give the user enhanced speed and agility along with a 'tracking' ability. Normally, the eyes give the user the ability to see anything a certain distance from them. When the user sees a person and 'tags' them using the ability, the user can now track that person three times the distance of their normal range, which is their tracking limit. As the tagged person moves closer to the user's tracking limit, their normal range decreases until they can only see what a normal person could see. Ex: Takuya can normally see anything within 400 meters of him. If he tags a person, he will still be able to see anything 400 meters of him as long as the tracked person stays within the 400 meters. If the tracked person is 800 meters away from him, Takuya will only be able to see 200 meters around him but will still know the tracked person's location. If the tracked person is 1200 meters away from him, he will only be able to see like a normal person.

"I see," I say, feeling a sense of foreboding grow inside me when Takuya went more into detail about the mission. The plan was simple enough, follow Mujihina into the Shirokiba's hideout, figure out where Tasatsu is, then Takuya would kill him.

The plan was extremely simple, something that Takuya and my older sister would without a doubt be able to handle. Honestly, I thought that both of them for one assassination was already kind of overkill, leaving practically no reason for both of them to bring me along.

"Tasatsu is rumored to be affiliated with one of the Phantom Troupe members, Feitan." Hikaoki said, speaking up for the first time since my arrival.

That's when everything made sense. Feitan was infamously known to be the only person who could keep up with Takuya's speed, the fastest member of the Kaiko clan. If we did happen to run into him, all three of us would be required in order to guarantee a win without casualties. Just Takuya wouldn't guarantee a win against Feitan, though he did have a higher chance than Feitan of winning, and Takuya and Hikaoki would only guarantee a win. This mission's focus wasn't Tasatsu, but Feitan. Considering Hisoka's threat as well, it made all the more sense to take out one of the strongest Phantom Troupe members before the Yorknew Auction.

"Mujihina's on the move." Takuya suddenly announced, pulling me back into reality. All three of us leapt onto the roof of the building right next to us, then activating Zetsu and falling into some kind of unofficial formation, Takuya in the front, Hikaoki right behind/next to him, and me behind the two. I caught a glimpse of whom I assumed to be Mujihina, who was walking in the opposite direction around 200 meters away, as well as Takuya's right eye flashing silver. Once Mujihina was around 400 meters away, which was a good couple minutes later, Takuya began tailing him via roof-hopping.

A couple hours passed as we followed Mujihina around at a distance of 400 meters, Takuya keeping his distance since our target was a sensor type. Yuki was getting increasing bored as every second passed and had resorted to watching Erased to pass the time.

' _I swear, this guy is even worse than Alice._ ' Yuki said when the serial killer decided to disappear in a weapon shop for over three hours. Takuya had confirmed that he was indeed browsing and not going down some secret entrance into the Shirokiba's hideout. Yuki had been referring to one time when Alice had dragged me along to go "window shopping". Notice the quotes, since there was a reason why Alice was one of the top spenders of the Kaiko clan. The little shopping trip had used up almost five hours of my time.

' _But at least Alice has some kind of warped taste for guns, this guy just spent the last 30 minutes debating over the equivalent of a kitchen knife.'_

' _I feel bad for Takuya, just hearing it from you makes me cringe.'_

Fast forward a good couple of hours later, by then it was already night.

"This guy is impossible." Takuya finally announced, speaking up about the indecisiveness and idiocy of Mujihina for the first time since the beginning of the mission. Mujihina had just check out a room in a hotel to stay for the night while the three of us had opted for the trees that surrounded said hotel. "Spent one hour bargaining for a 10% discount. _A squirrel_ could have gotten five times the discount in half the time, for god's sake."

"How long can you keep your eye activated?" I asked, as the question had been on my mind ever since Mujihina had disappeared inside the weapon shop.

"Eh, without seriously affecting my fighting ability, I'd say around 4 days." He responded, Hikaoki adding on that it had been a while since Takuya had pushed his tracking ability that far, meaning that his limit was more likely around 5. I internally died, realizing the sheer OPness of the two people that were only three/four years my senior and the disparity in our experience and strength.

' _Don't feel bad Tricia! Kelsi was only.. creating entire realms… when she was... one year... younger than you….'_ Yuki said in a failed attempt to cheer me up, only realizing a fatal mistake mid-sentence.

' _Two, since I'm practically 16. Kelsi succeeded in causing several major changes in world maps when she was that age, Hikaoki almost landed herself a spot in the Council when she was 14, Takuya practically had most of the mafia under his control when 15.'_

' _...You're making me depressed.'_ Thinking about the Council members reminded me of the Seven Swords of Enki, which was what Yuki and I decided to name our new Hatsu. The main reason why I wasn't as strong I would like to be was because of two major weakness, my inability to deal large amounts of damage, and the limitations on my Hatsu. Of course, Yuki's explosives helped partially cover that weakness, but explosives could only be used in certain conditions. The Seven Swords of Enki would allow me to use my first Hatsu to its full potential, allowing me to nuke the heck out of my enemies.

 ***Note that Tricia is using 'nuke' as a gaming term. Nuking is the ability to deal large amounts of damage to a target.**

' _Wait, if you master the Seven Swords of Enki, JUST IMAGINE THE POTENTIAL IF YOU TEAMED UP WITH HIKAOKI AND TAKUYA. OH MY CUP NOODLES JUST IMAGINE.'_ Yuki said/screamed/realized, freaking out and going on a strategy rant. To explain, Yuki was referring to a type of team in Magic and Mythics, frequently referred to 'control teams'. Control teams specialized in either immobilizing, paralyzing, or controlling their targets and could be overpowered if done properly and could be difficult to counter. The weakness of such a team was mainly due to the fact that control teams would mainly consist of closely linked group of support units, each playing one part in order to contribute to the main picture. If one of two units happened to be killed, the team would be rendered useless. Also, another major disadvantage of such teams was its inability to deal and take damage.

Yuki referred to Takuya and Hikaoki as a tracking-control team because of their ability hunting down a target and then immobilized him/her. Although my addition to the team would be both redundant and more likely to slow them down than help them, Yuki liked going above and beyond as well as power teams. Hikaoki, Takuya and I had somehow classified as a 'power team', and such, Yuki was freaking out over the new-found discovery.

While Yuki was going over the strategy and weaknesses of such a team, all three of us had split up in order to completely surround the hotel and cover the entrances/exits. We were close enough to signal to each other as well as make sure that one of us didn't suddenly disappear, but far enough apart to actually fulfill the purpose of splitting up. Another perk of being a Kaiko, enhanced night vision. And no, I wasn't partially color blind.

The rest of the night passed rather uneventfully, nothing really happening besides the fact that Yuki had already begun training for the Seven Swords of Enki, starting with transmuting blades.

By the time the sun was starting to resurface over the horizon, a very exhausted Yuki was now proudly showing off a newly learned ability by slicing off the tops of chip bags.

As soon as Mujihina checked out of his room and called a taxi to the outskirts of Seitohi, I followed after Takuya, who was once again leading the pursuit. Most of the time that we spending chasing the car passed without anyone speaking up, as there really wasn't much to talk about. Takuya and my older sister were both the silent type of person that could just disappear for years on end.

"Oh, Hikaoki." Takuya spoke up, disrupting the silence that had settled into the air. "Do you think you could accompany a rogue during the Yorknew Auction? Kelsi wants to make sure that she doesn't run off and mass murder some mafia bosses again." My train of thought paused for a moment. 'Rogue' referred to mercenaries/thieves in the black market that weren't bound to a certain mafia group or employer. They were usually infamous for betraying or swapping sides for a larger sum of money. That aside, the 'again' in Takuya's statement had me rather perplexed.

"Yes, who's the rogue?" Hikaoki responded.

"The Blood Reaper, Cheriko."

"Oh, the seventeen-year-old sociopathic yangire."

' _Wat…'_ Yuki responded, not expecting to run into a yangire before a tsundere. Yangires were more dangerous versions of yanderes. For one, yangire were unpredictable and could explode at any moment, while yanderes would only kill for love.

Takuya suddenly stopped, noticing that the taxi had parked on the side of the road. From what I could see, Mujihina had stopped at a rather deserted-looking bus stop next to a cliff side and forest. Once the taxi was out of sight, he disappeared into the forest, all three of us following him without fail.

Around twenty or so minutes later, Takuya told us that Mujihina had just entered the Shirokiba's hideout and that he was currently searching the hideout for Tasatsu or Feitan, as well as an entrance. Turns out that the Shirokiba's HQ was an abandoned building in the middle of the forest, with guards around the entire perimeter. No one was guarding the roof. It didn't take long for all of us to simply just tree-hop onto the roof of the building without anyone noticing.

"Tasatsu's in one of the storage rooms in the basement. Feitan's nowhere to be found." Takuya said quietly once we had landed on the roof. I sighed in relief, rather glad that I wouldn't run into the Phantom Troupe member. Casting a quick veil over us to hide our identity, we continued into the building, making our way to the basement. Honestly, I was bewildered by how easy it was for us to get in. Sure, we had a couple of rather close run-ins when we couldn't avoid a crowd, but we managed to arrive in front of the basement storage room within 15 minutes.

' _That was surprisingly easy, almost suspiciously so.'_ I agreed with Yuki, even with Takuya's Ravin eye and her Hatsu, it was surprising how simple it was to infiltrate the Shirokiba. The door to the room was slightly ajar, possibly allowing us to enter without risking the door creaking. Takuya slipped in first, having the advantage of the Ravin eye. He soon gave us the signal to follow after him, then hiding among the many beams that crisscrossed the ceiling. The silence in the air soon turned suffocating, the lack of sound clearly obvious.

It was around then that we heard footsteps farther in the room, quiet, but obvious enough for us to hear. Clearly, Tasatsu was skilled, but was lacking several points in the stealth department.

The serial killer was soon in view, completely oblivious of the three of us. I felt a small, hardly noticeable shift of aura next to me, and in the same millisecond, Tasatsu's body went limp and fell on the floor, a throwing blade embedded in the back of his neck. I immediately looked to my left, knowing that Takuya was the only one of the two that conjured black-silver throwing blades. The council member also held several other similar weapons in his hand in case Tasatsu had somehow dodged a weapon going over 200mph.

' _O.o, Wow, not a single drop of blood spilled.'_ Yuki remarked. Needless to say, I wasn't the only one who had improved over the years. Yuki was continuing to practice transmuting blades (with varying results.)

Making our way back to the surface was similar to before, Takuya keeping an eye on the area with Hikaoki and me following. We were able to get halfway before one of the guards had noticed that Tatatsu was dead. Soldiers spread out in an attempt to catch us, though 1) their attempts were futile and 2) both Yuki and I found it hilarious to see usually-composed mercenaries freaking out and running around to find someone that was literary hiding right under their nose.

"Wow..." Takuya said in a low voice while they watched guards run right past them, "I must admit, your Hatsu is kind of scary."

"It's nothing really," I shrugged, "Since they aren't focusing on where we are, it's quite easy to fool a couple people's eyesight just for a couple of seconds here and there." I was able to manipulate anyone whom I touched my nen with, so anyone within my range of En would be possible to manipulate. Also, the amount of aura that I used to create the illusion was equivalent to the amount required to break the illusion.

In the next minute or so, we were able to reach the roof with little difficulty. Soon we were standing on the top, although there were several black marketers on the top as well. I relaxed a little upon realizing that most of the guards on the roof were on the weak side; even I would have little difficulty dealing with them.

It was at that moment that a felt my instincts act up. Not taking any kind of chance, my hand grabbed the hilt of my katana, then unsheath-

"Hikaoki."

A clash of metal. I was dimly aware that my illusion had been broken my an attacker.

Slowly, I dared myself to look up. Hikaoki's scythe was positioned only two feet away from me, holding a silver katana back.

 _Too close._ I leapt back, fully drawing my own katana. Not even half a second's warning, hardly enough time to activate Timelapse.

A black and silver throwing knife was thrown at our attacker, forcing him to back off. I was aware that Takuya had fully activated his own ability, Reiken. Two bladed tekko-Kagi with the base partly covered in bandages appeared on his hands, extending 2 or so inches over the normal length.

Our attacker leapt back, allowing me a better view of him.

"Feitan."

* * *

 **Hi readers! :P As you can probably tell, there is/already has been a change in my updating schedule. I will now be updating at least every other week, the next time being the end of the month.**

 **Me: Being really/too happy that school is over in three days. *Throws confetti***

 **Also me: Playing games and watching Haikyuu! when I really should be typing this fic.**

 **Oh, short story cuz I have no life. A couple days ago, one of the kids in my 3rd-period class mentioned that humans were made mostly out of water. The conversation went as follows:**

 **Presenting kid: We made our poster the shape of a water drop because the human body is made mostly out of water.**

 **Hacker kid that knows too much about programming: Wait, then doesn't that mean that drinking water is cannibalism then?**

 **Presenting Kid: But-**

 **Other kid: Yeah! That does make sense.**

 **Presenting Kid: Hey-**

 **Sensable kid: No! Cannibalism is eating your own species.**

 **Hacker kid that knows too much about programming: BUT, humans share 50% of their DNA with cabbages, so eating cabbages is partial cannibalism!**

 **Presenting kid: That doesn't make any-**

 **Sensable kid: CABBAGES ARE NOT THE SAME SPECIES AS HUMANS**

 **Hacker kid that knows too much about programming: 50% OF US IS 50% OF THEM.**

 **Presenting Kid: ….**

 **Sensable kid: SO?!**

 **Presenting Kid: ….**

 **Hacker kid that knows too much about programming: SO?! DRINKING WATER IS STILL PARTIAL CANNIBALISM.**

 **Presenting kid: How-**

 **Sensable kid: NO IT IS NOT.**

 ***Teacher walks into the room after stepping outside for no joke a minute***

 **Hacker kid that knows too much about programming and sensible kid (at teacher): IS DRINKING WATER PARTIAL CANNIBALISM.**

 **Presenting kid: ….Can I finish my presentation?**

 **Me: XD, writes this down.**

 **How did you like the swap of PoV? (Leave a review!)**

 **A huge thanks to Kashiko Rivatyl for betaing this chapter.**


	9. Cultivation Arc: Part 2

"Fox," Feitan said, addressing Takuya by his black market alias. His eyes narrowed, recognizing Hikaoki by her scythe and amber eyes. "Raven."

Hikaoki quickly dispelled her scythe in favor of her modified katana. Giving away her main weapon and ace would possibly cost her life in these situations. Hikaoki's style was catching her opponent by surprise, mainly by switching between weapons of different shapes and sizes mid-swing. Then, once she landed a single injury on her opponent, her ability, Raven's Eye, would activate. Raven's Eye acted as a homing device, making it so the next attacks against that person couldn't miss. Takuya's ability, Reiken, summoned two modified tekko-kagi that immobilized anyone that was cut by it.

The thing was, Feitan already had a rough idea of Takuya and Hikaoki's fighting style and abilities. That's where I came in. The strong point of my ability was that most of the time, my opponent didn't know that they were being manipulated. Then again, using my ability against someone who was on a much higher level was risky and consumed a rather large amount of my stamina.

"The blondie and the muscle-brain are with him." Takuya announced, noticing that Shalnark and Uvogin/Phinks were with Feitan, most likely 400 meters behind because of Feitan's enhanced speed.

"Which muscle brain?" I asked, not knowing if he meant Uvogin or Phinks. Both struck me as the brash type with the 'just keep punching it until it dies' mentality.

"The stupider one." Oh, so Phinks. Argue with me all you want, but he thought that he could beat Kelsi.

Feitan's eyes narrowed, obviously not approving of our nicknames for his comrades. He charged at Takuya, disappearing and then reappearing in order to try to catch the brunet off-guard.

"Reverse Timelapse," I muttered under my breath, activated one of my most useful abilities. Timelapse sped up a person's perception of time, giving them less time to react in a fight. Reverse timelapse did the opposite, slowing down my perception of time so I had more time to react and think up of a strategy.

As soon as I activated Reverse Timelapse on myself, the world slowed around me. I could actually see Feitan and Takuya instead of just seeing blurs. It was around then that I realized something that made me mentally facepalm.

 _How in the seven seas did I not notice how much Feitan had slowed down?_

Two years ago, Feitan had matched Takuya in terms of speed. Since then, Takuya had improved by leaps and bounds. On the other hand, Feitan had gotten _slower._

And when I say slower, I mean _a lot_ _slower_.

Right now, Feitan was just barely keeping up with Takuya, forced to focus on defense.

At that moment, Shalnark and Phinks finally caught up with Feitan, charging on to the roof and scaring the rest of the remaining guards into running for their lives. Smart of them, knowing that a battle between two formidable forces would most likely lead to their demise.

"Oi!" Phinks exclaimed, pointing at Hikaoki, "You're the Grim Reaper who almost killed Uvogin!" Hikaoki was also known as the infamous Grim Reaper in the black market, mainly because of her perfectly executed assassin/mass murder missions and the 100% success rate that went along with them. That that she wielded a scythe, along with many other weapons, probably played a role.

"So I am," Hikaoki replied, not really caring about what Phinks was saying, "It's not my fault that he was stupid." She continued, seeing Phinks' lip curl in disgust at her indifference.

"Phinks, calm down." said the blondie, Shalnark, with a relaxed smile and a polite tone, "Rushing in will only lead to your death. Also, what's your name? I don't think I've seen you before." He finished, referring to me. Something about his polite tone made me dislike him.

"Hawk." I replied, not exactly surprised or insulted by the fact that none of them knew my name. I wasn't really all that well known in the black market, mostly due to the fact that I was only partially involved with mafia politics and whatnot.

"Well, Hawk" Shalnark continued cheerfully, "And Raven," He continued, pulling out an antenna shaped like a bat, not missing Takuya and Feitan's one-sided fight. "Die."

Both Phinks and Shalnark charged at the both of us at the same time. Immediately, I went for Shalnark, knowing that I would have a better chance of defeating him rather than Phinks.

I pulled him under an illusion, then spreading out my aura in a 15-meter En in order to further improve my reaction speed. Shalnark, oblivious of the illusion, pulled out a knife and began to engage in combat with me.

For a minute or so we were evenly matched, every one of my blows was brushed aside with his knife, and every one of his attacks was either blocked or dodged. I admit, he was good with a knife. Not professional good, but decent.

One hand tucked in my cloak, I continued to engage in combat, slowly beginning to read his attack patterns and predicting whether he would block or dodge.

I swung from the left, knowing that he would dodge then attack. Shalnark sidestepped to the left, letting my sword cut through air, then lunged with his outstretched hand, creating his own blindspot.

 _Got you._ All at once, My left hand drew my wakizashi, then quickly thrust it forward.

Immediately, Shalnark's smile disappeared. He jumped back, flinching at his newly-inflicted wound. I was rather proud of that stab though, it's not every day that you got to inflict a three-ish inch deep wound on someone that was stronger than you.

I felt rather smug, almost. Then I realized what was wrong. _I couldn't move._

A foreign aura enveloped me, forcing me to lower my swords. I noticed a bat-winged antenna embedded into my left arm, most likely placed there during my surprise attack.

' _Shimata!'_ I exclaimed. ' _Yuki! Is there anything you can do?'_

' _I don't think so! I even if we tried to swap bodies, it would most likely fail and kill ourselves in the process. Even if it did work, I still would be unable to control your body.'_ I internally cursed. What could I do in this state?

Communicating with Yuki was still an option. Shalnark didn't know my abilities yet and hence would be unable to use them.

 _Timelapse was still active._

Shalnark wouldn't know, even if he could see what I saw. Timelapse only messed around with the victim's brain's perception of time, so only I could perceive the changes.

 _If Timelapse is still working, the illusion I placed on Shalnark should still be working too._

Shalnark should be able to prevent people from activating their Hatsus, but he shouldn't be able to use their Hatsus if he doesn't know what they are.

Main question: Could I still manipulate my illusion even though I was controlled?

I thought for a bit, knowing that I had plenty of time to think thanks to Timelapse. Shalnark's ability couldn't nullify the victim's thoughts but took over their body. Manipulating an illusion was simply shaping Nen.

Well, yolo, I may as well try this since I'm already screwed.

 _God's Reign!_ I internally yelled, activating my ultimate illusion. God's Reign was in some ways a last resort ultimate move. It worked as long as the strength difference between me and my opponent wasn't insanely large, but it could only be used for a short amount of time and used up a lot of my Nen. But in the end, during the handful of second that it was activated, I could almost make my opponent do whatever I wanted them to do.

Almost immediately, I felt the familiar sensation of an illusion being activated. Shalnark glanced around in confusion, seeing his antenna embedded in some nearby boxes instead of my arm.

 _Hurry up and take this needle out of my arm, I can't hold this skill for forever_.

Shalnark walked up to me and pulled the needle out of my arm, still rather confused on why the antenna was in some boxes rather than me. The minor wound on my arm healed the second it was out. Hopefully, Shalnark wouldn't notice that the blood smeared on the needle had a silvery tint to it; the color of the metal should disguise it.

I lunged forward the second I could, hoping to inflict someone kind of wound on Shalnark before God's Reign let up. My katana hovered over his heart, half an inch from dealing a potentially fatal blow. Shalnark's eyes widened in that split second, illusion broken by the sudden presence of danger.

He jumped back, just barely avoiding my blade and escaping with a stretch over his heart. Cursing, I entered my standard fighting stance. I was at around 30% nen, from casting constant illusions on the three of us and using God's Reign. With 30%, I could cast a few illusions on Shalnark, create a couple explosions, hold a 15-meter En for 20 mins, and escape.

Shalnark grimaced, thinking that if I could pull off God's Reign one more time, he would be screwed. He was right, actually, assuming that I had enough nen to do it.

At that point, it seemed as though Feitan realized that his reinforcements were getting destroyed by us and made the decision to retreat. (It's not like I would be seriously screwed or anything if Feitan didn't retreat but ANYWAYS).

As soon as they began to retreat, Takuya gave the signal to let them go. The Council member's decision confused me since once Takuya and Hikaoki killed Feitan and Phinks, they could easily kill Shalnark for me. But, considering the experience difference between me and Takuya, I trusted his decision to not get us killed.

"I've just told Kelsi about Feitan, Phinks, and Shalnark via Sonar and Karima." The heterochromatic Council member announced. "We're going to meet up with Karima and maybe Lennex tomorrow for a strategy meeting since we've experienced the change in their abilities. Keiron's busy hunting down the rest of the members. Hopefully, he can find something before Yorknew."

"Lennex's actually coming?" I asked as he was more of the 'lemme just hide in this hole with wifi until some kind of apocalyptic situation happens' person. Though Takuya wasn't one to say anything either. Or Hikaoki, for that matter.

"Apparently. If we start going back to Seitohi right now, we should be able to return to the realm in half an hour or so." It had taken us slightly more than one hour to get to here, considering how slow that taxi was.

"Sounds good," I replied, faintly hearing Yuki cheer and throw digital confetti everywhere as she sliced the lid off of a Cup Noodle (See Tricia? My Nen control over this is soooo good!).

* * *

 **Ok, semi-late (and really short) update since I was lazy and procrastinate this in two days**

 **I will be going on vacation for the next 2-3 weeks but I will try to write some chapters in advance and post at least every other week. Since a lot of new OCs will be introduced, I will start writing profiles for them (In the ANs) as well is rewriting them once the character learn new abilities/get stronger/something new about them is revealed (ex: Tricia after she learns her second Hatsu)**

 **First Profile:**

 **Tricia Kaiko (Current)**

 **Alias: Hawk**

 **Age: 15**

 **Birthday: March 21**

 **Height: 5' 6"**

 **Weight: 53 kg (117 lbs) (because Illusion takes place in an anime, sorry)**

 **Blood Type: O**

 **Nen Type: Manipulator**

 **Description: Brown/hazel shoulder length hair, wears a green bandana to cover cat ears. Green cat-like eyes.**

 **Hatsu: Illusions**

 **Skills:**

 **Timelapse (speeds up/slows down a person's perception of time, sometimes referred to Reverse Timelapse when used to slow down someone's perception of time).**

 **God's Reign (puts victim in an ultimate illusion. Senses, time, and emotions can be manipulated. Usually lasts for a handful of seconds and uses up a lot of nen)**

 **Weapon of Choice: Katana and wakizashi, carries a knife**

 **Relationships (The ones worth mentioning):**

 **Sakiris Kaiko - Younger twin sister (Deceased)**

 **Hikaoki - Older sister (Alive)**

 **Shiro - Former draiknor (Deceased)**

 **Yuki - Sakiris' former draiknor, Tricia's current draiknor (Alive)**

 **Killuko Zoldyck - Close Friend (Deceased)**

 **Rina Hoshiko - Close Friend (Alive)**

 **Blossom - Rina's draiknor, Friend (Alive)**

 **Alice Ashita - Friend (Alive)**

 **Kelsi Lukkel - Leader/Former teacher (Alive)**

 **Takuya - Superior/Comrade (Alive)**

 **Lennex - Superior/Friend (Alive)**

 **Gon Freecss - Acquaintance (Alive)**

 **Killua Zoldyck - Acquaintance (Alive)**

 **Kurapika Kurta - Acquaintance (Alive)**

 **Leorio Paladiknight - Acquaintance (Alive)**

 **Kikyo Zoldyck - Absolutely hates Tricia (Alive)**

 **Zoldyck family - Dislikes Tricia (Alive)**

 **Other:**

 **Kaiko heritage: Has cat ears and tail (increased night vision, hearing and balance), silvery-red blood (crazy-fast healing and immune to all diseases and poisons (except basilisk poison), cannot grow back limbs). Increased nen capacity, Increased speed and agility but decreased endurance.**

 **Soul Link: Can communicate telepathically with each other along with perceive what the other person/draiknor is experiencing. Increased nen capacity according to other person/draiknor's nen capacity (original capacity + other person/draiknor's capacity = current capacity). More advanced techniques are: Using each other's Nen abilities, combining Nen abilities, and swapping minds. Drawbacks: If the other person/draiknor dies, 50% of their soul and nen capacity will be permanently lost.**

 **Hunter Status: Most transportation is free. Access to most places unavailable to the public. Access to Hunter Website.**

 **Black Market/Bounty hunter status: Has minimal power over mafia matters. Knowledge of large current matters.**

 **Ryoshi Membership: Some say in the Hunter Association. Can get non-suicidal thieves/black market fodder to back off. Bragging rights.**

 **Zoldyck Family Relationship: Will be killed on spot if seen by Kikyo Zoldyck. Will most likely be attacked if recognized by anyone older than Milluki Zoldyck**

 **Unfortunately, my beta'r will not be able to edit the following chapters of Illusion since she does not have access to a computer. However, she will be back in action as soon as school starts again somewhere in September**


	10. Cultivation Arc: Part 3

**This weird AN in the beginning of the chapter is brought to you by Narrator A, or simply, the Narrator.**

 ***A white-gray-black landscape with several TV-like screens playing different scenes from Illusion (along with many random objects) begins to manifest. A blender floats across the room. For those who have yet to realize what has happened, this place is beyond the fourth wall.***

 ***Tricia appears in the room, confused and rather bewildered by the blender and the frying pan that follows it. After all, what could be more interesting than floating kitchenware?***

 ***A gray-black-white sort of humanoid figure appears in front of the Kaiko, crossing his/her arms. The figure thing is Narrator A.***

 **Narrator A: Author, could you please cut the stage direction-y narration?**

 ***But I want to, that's the thing. Also, I prefer being called 'Author-sama'***

 **Narrator A (exasperated): The readers will get annoyed and stop reading.**

 ***But they won't, that's the thing.***

 **Narrator A (slightly annoyed): Ok then, Author. Why did you bring Tricia here?**

 ***That's Author-sama to you.***

 ***Tricia looks rather confuzzled by the conversation between the Author and Narrator A.***

 **Tricia: Does this have to do something with him, *gestures toward Narrator A*, or her, telling me to take over the narration right after the Hunter Exam?**

 ***Yes, actually. By the way, I would appreciate it if you called Narrator A 'Aisel-chan'. Since, you know, calling someone by their position is kind of weird. Hence, I came up with 'Aisel-chan'***

 **Aisel-chan (annoyed) (to Tricia): Just ignore the honorific and call me Aisel.**

 **Tricia: ...ok. Do you know why I'm here?**

 **Aisel-chan: Actually, as far as I know, Author pulled you in here just to bump up the word count since she hasn't done ANYTHING *glares angering at sky. Geez, kids, don't do that at home or else you'll get wrinkles by the time you're 18* for ELEVEN of the FOURTEEN days we have to write this thing. Although, since the PoV has switched to first person, I'm no longer all that involved in the writing of Illusion.**

 **Tricia: …?**

 ***I also have the sudden urge to write a psychotic character for some reason, dunno why though.***

 **Aisel-chan: Explains why you dragged Cheriko into the story two chapters ago. Oh, you also have a psychotic character in your other failed fic, Michiyo Yoshikuni, no?**

 **Tricia: ... Why does Author talk like Yuki?**

 ***After writing Yuki for the past half year, Yuki's way of talking has slowly been absorbed by me. And Aisel-chan, you don't know how easy and fun psychotic characters are to write. It's** _ **awesome**_ **.***

 **Aisel-chan: You know, even after working with you for god knows how long, I still think you're mentally unstable.**

 ***Thank you, I didn't ask for your opinion.***

 **Aisel-chan: I would consider therapy.**

 ***OK! I crammed in an extra 486 words and I'm happy with that!* *wipes Tricia's memory and then wiskes her back over the fourth wall.***

* * *

 **Half an Hour Later**

' _Tricia! I thought you were going to die!'_ I heard as soon as I set foot in our room in Kelsi's realm. I frowned for a moment, feeling something off. I paused for a second then deciding that it probably had something to do with Kelsi's realm.

' _Takuya and Nee-san were with me.'_ I replied. The draiknor pouted, clearly not approving of how the mini-argument was going.

' _It's so serious that even Lennex and Takuya are participating in tomorrow's strategy meeting! I talk to Lennex and Gyro all the time via Magic and Mythics, but the last time I saw either of them was a year ago!'_ Yuki continued, adding on how infrequently Takuya and Hikaoki stopped by.

' _Ok ok, by the way, you've already partially mastered the blades, right?'_ I asked, changing the subject, knowing that continuing said subject would lead to an hour long conversation.

' _Yup! Since I've already gotten the basics of transmuting blades down, it should be too hard for you to learn it as well.'_ I signed, the thing about combined abilities was that I actually had to learn to transmute everything (using Yuki's nen instead of my own). I defiantly was not looking forward to it.

Learning to transmute something usually included involved interacting with the thing you want to transmute, and if the Yuki's bandaged arms told me anything, it was that I would be stabbing myself. Time to abuse the heck out of my regeneration.

* * *

Transmuting blades was hard. I came to that conclusion two hours and plenty of self-inflicted injuries later.

' _Come on Tricia! You can do it!'_ Yuki cheered through a mouthful of Cup Noodles. ' _You just gotta think about it_ really _hard, and then, poof! Transmuted!'_

I signed for the nth time. Transmuting something, even with Yuki's Transmuter nen, just didn't feel right like manipulating people did. I would compare it to drawing with your non-dominant hand in someone else's body with that hand as their dominant one. Lengthy explanation, though it got my point across just fine.

' _Maybe I should ask Lennex for tips once he's back..'_ I wondered telepathically. Lennex was a Transmuter as well, and was somewhat better than Yuki at explaining.

' _Hey! Don't forget about me! I'm a perfectly capable teacher.'_ Yuki said, protesting against my suggestion.

' _Let me explain this in a different way then. Let's say that I have no idea how to use a bow so I come to you, who knows how to use one, to teach me. You then hand me a bow and arrow and tell me to shoot down a bird. I miss and then ask you to tell me how to hit the bird. You tell me to aim. Very helpful.'_

' _But it's true! Yona could've just aimed properly at the bird and then she could've skipped all the training that she had to go through!'_

 _Prodigies._ I sighed. If I remembered correctly, it had taken Lennex at least a couple of days or so in order to be able to transmute his explosions. Unlike Yuki, who took one day to do the same.

' _Huh…'_ The blue-gray draiknor started, realizing something rather strange. ' _Now that I think of it, isn't it kind of weird that both Lennex and Takuya are participating in the next strategy meeting, but Keiron isn't?'_ Keiron, full name Keiron Raecciv. Rank no. 5 among the Kaikos, age 24. He was the type of person that you expected to be in the Council, someone who would actually bother to read the first couple lines on the Terms and Conditions and take the time to follow proper procedures instead of butchering the rules like every other Kaiko.

In other words: 99% of Kaikos would (maybe) skim title page of a driving manual and then hop into a car with no idea how to drive while other 1% (Keiron) would at least read the entire thing. Keiron also had a near-perfect attendance with strategy meetings (or meetings in general) while the amount Lennex attendend could be counted on one hand (he had attended a grand total of two meetings, both of them he attended in order to (attempt to) lower tax rates. It would be bumped up to three if attended this one). Takuya was slightly better, for it would take two hands to count how many meetings had been to (six meetings, including this one.)

FYI, there have been a grand total of 136 meetings over the course of the past 7 years.

' _Takuya said that he was off hunting down the other members; whatever he's doing must be pretty important in order for him to miss this meeting.'_ I relayed, then refocusing on transmuting blades. I sighed. Yuki told me I was becoming Hikaoki.

It was going to be a long six months.

* * *

 **God knows how long later**

"Tricia, Yuki?" I heard after my (insert a large number) attempt at transmuting blades. I immediately recognized both the voice and the soft aura that enveloped the room.

"Hi Rina!" I called back. The raven-haired girl stepped inside, obviously noticing the tower of finished Cup Noodles, at least based on her expression.

"I was wondering if I could borrow your Hunter's License for a bit, just to check the Hunter site for any information." She continued. Rina's original goal had been to pass the Hunter Exam herself and then use the license to find any information concerning her younger twin siblings since they had been separated nine years ago. Three years ago during the war, she had been caught in an explosion and permanently blinded.

"Sure," I answered, pulling my license out from my side bag. "I'll go with you to Donotoshi to download some anime." Donotoshi happened have this one library that had fast and free wifi (along with fancy computers) so until Kelsi found a way to get wifi in the realm, all the Kaikos used that one library as wifi central. Yuki was dying to watch the next (unfinished)season of Boku no Hero Academia and I needed a break from futilely trying to transmute blades.

Rina took the license and with a quick word of thanks, then teleported us directly to Donotoshi. I heard Yuki scoff in envy; due to the nature of Rina's Hatsu she was able to see and understand most of the inner workings of Kelsi's realm and in turn was able to manipulate the teleportation. Only Rina and a couple of other sensors were able to perform the same feat.

The familiar alleyway next to Donotoshi's library martilized before me, snapping me back to reality. Along with the rather repulsive scent of garbage.

"What's up with Kelsi and alleyways?..." I wondered out loud while walking towards said library, "There's nothing wrong with abandoned buildings or rooftops…"

"I second that opinion." Rina tagged on.

"The entire clan approves of your decision. Minus Kelsi." I added, half-grinning at our semi-(sort of)indirect declarations of rebellion.

"Shall I ask for signatures?" The raven-haired sensor asked, offering to petition the idea.

"Something tells me Kelsi wouldn't approve…" I continued, "Where do I sign?"

I faintly heard both of our inner Yukis cackle like Yuki. Terrible analogy, but witches cannot compare to Yuki.

Walking into the library, Alice waved to us from behind the counter and 1) No, she is not robbing the place and 2) Yes, the sniper-bomber works in a library. Laugh all you what, but as Alice says: 'Property damage tends to take most of your paycheck. Especially if you blow up a skyscraper (or two) (or three) (or ten).' Both of us waved back and made a beeline for the computers before Alice blew up the library on us.

I saw Rina insert my Hunter License into a card scanner and type in the url for the Hunter website, then searching up the names of her siblings (Kasai and Hikari Hoshiko) in the search bar. Lists apon lists of unhelpful results appeared. She then switched to a different form of modified En, one that could pick up the color black.

Redirecting my attention to my own computer, I began the tedious task of downloading anime. I hate captchas, didn't help that the site I used upgraded from annoying captchas to supremely annoying captchas. Yes people who know which site I'm using, I was pirating pirated anime.

Five minutes later I unplugged my flash drive and joined Rina in her search for her younger siblings.

"I think I found something." Rina suddenly said. She clicked on a result that read 'ZEPHR Hoshiko Project.'

 _ZEPHR HOSHIKO PROJECT,_ The title said in all caps.

 _In effect August 25 x796 - October 2 x796_

 _On August 25 x796, ZEPHR launched the Hoshiko Project, which included kidnapping several member of the Hoshiko clan for experimentation._

 _For more information, please transfer a total of 300,000 jenny._

"Well, we can say goodbye to Kelsi's wallet." Rina said rather cheerfully as I typed in the realm master's credit card number. As soon as the transaction was completed, the world faded around us as we entered a nen-created space.

"A bar?" I noted as I looked around. Smart of them to pull us into a nen created space, though. This way no one had a chance of eavesdropping.

"ZEPHR's Hoshiko Project was launched in hopes of researching the Hoshiko unique specialist/conjurer abilities and finding a way to use them for their own benefit." THe bartender explained as he offered us a cup of sake, which we politely refused. "The documents found at the site revealed that the twin clan heirs of the clan would be the main subjects; several other young members ranging from ages 2-13 were also held captive. Roughly one week after the project was launched, the 21 subjects escaped and burned majority of the building down. The current location of the subjects are currently unknown. It is speculated that the other members of the Hoshiko clan aided in the escape. None of the information that was collected during the project was salvageable."

The scenery around us disappeared once again as we returned to the library.

"Well," I noted, "that was particularly helpful." Rina had already known all of the that having been one of the subjects herself. "At least it wasn't our money."

"I may or may not have memorized Kelsi-dono's credit card number for future reference."

"Use it while you can, Alice's going on a shopping spree with the card next week.' Right after someone used a large enough amount of money that couldn't go unnoticed, Kelsi would cancel said card and open up a new one. Then someone good with computers (Yuki, Rina, Lennex, Karima, or me) would either be convinced or bribed into finding out leader's new credit card number. Rinse and repeat every few months. "Though it's not like three hundred thousand is a small amount anyways."

"Duly noted." The raven-haired girl responded. Both of us left the library rather quickly after that in fear of Alice's trigger-happy tendencies.

As soon we got back in the realm Yuki was already deleting the credit card receipt in hopes of delaying Kelsi for a couple more days.

' _Done!'_ Yuki exclaimed as the draiknor leaned back in a roller chair. ' _All records of any recent transaction erased. Hey Rina, how about a game of chess?'_

' _Sure.'_ Rina said, conjuring a chess board as Yuki plopped down across from the sensor.

' _I call black.'_ The draiknor announced. Rina conjured the pieces in their appropriate places.

I sat down on the roller chair, prepared to enjoy a game of chess between the two self-declared rivals (by Yuki, of course). Yuki had yet to win a game against Rina, or even come close, for that matter.

' _Checkmate.'_ Rina announced three minutes later. Yuki's non-existent brows furrowed.

' _Speed of Light.' The draiknor said, moving the black king across the board. 'Check.'_

Sooo… to make up for a clear lack of understanding about chess and long-term strategy, Yuki either made up ability names and used them or borrowed some.

Rina easily evaded the attack, turning the black king's unfavourable position against the piece.

' _Consecutive Normal Punches.'_ The black queen knocked over Rina's bishop and rook.

This continued for almost an hour, Yuki getting increasing more and more creative until Rina managed to take out all of the transmuter's piece and checkmate the black king.

' _GG Rina!'_ Everyone in the room minus Yuki sweatdropped. No matter how you looked at it, Yuki definitely had not played a 'good game'. ' _I'll be sure to beat to you next time.'_

* * *

 **AN**

 **Nothing much to say really, other than the fact that I am terrible at writing 'filler' chapters were nothing much gets done other than getting to know the characters better and reading something light-hearted before stuff happens.**

 **Me: OK! The Cultivation should be mostly filler, Yuki and Lennex pulling pranks, Kelsi sort of being a narcissistic jerk/brat, Tricia being sarcastic, Lennex pissing off Keiron because of his height, topped off with Takuya and Hikaoki being Takuya and Hikaoki.**

 **Me while writing: Ok, first chap. Takuya and Hikaoki are always on missions, so it would be weird if they actually socialized for once. Tricia's going to join them on a mission. -Later- Wait, it doesn't make sense for Tricia to join them out of the sudden… Let's add some Phantom Troupe members into the mix! -Later- But it'd be boring if they didn't fight…. -Later-** **But it'd be boring if the Council didn't make a big deal out of this… -Later- But it'd be boring if I didn't reveal that Rina was blind…**

 **-Later- What the heck did I just do.**

 **Moral of the story: I can't write fluffy-ish-lighthearted-ish stuff without Yuki.**

 **-Later- For the last bit of this chap I'm just shoving all responsibility on Yuki.**

 **^^^This was no joke my thought process while I wrote the past three chapters. Now I'm figuring out all sorts of ways to involve Yuki with everyone so this arc doesn't turn into some kind of political nightmare.**

 **Oh, there was an error in Tricia's profile. Under 'Relationships', you might have noticed that I wrote Blossom instead of Sakurami. :P Sorry about that, Sakurami's original name was Blossom so it still screws me up sometimes especially since she's a minor character and got maybe two paragraphs of screen time.**

 **Profile of the day:**

 **Rina Hoshiko**

 **Alias: Tabby, Tabitha, 'Kitty'**

 **Age: 14**

 **Birthday: January 31**

 **Height: 5' 3"**

 **Weight: 46 kg (102 lbs)**

 **Blood type: AB**

 **Nen Type: Conjuror/Specialist**

 **Description: Jet-black mid-length hair, once-blue cloudy eyes.**

 **Hatsu: Creation**

 **Skills:**

 **None as of date**

 **Occupation: Scouter/Sensor**

 **Weapon of Choice: None**

 **Relationships (the ones known/mentioned):**

 **Hikari Hoshiko - Younger half-sister, twin brother Kasai (?)**

 **Kasai Hoshiko - Younger half-brother, twin sister Hikari (?)**

 **Sakurami - Current draiknor, former draiknor of her parent's friend (Alive)**

 **Tricia Kaiko - Close Friend (Alive)**

 **Sakiris Kaiko - Close Friend (Deceased)**

 **Killuko Zoldyck - Close Friend (Deceased)**

 **Yuki - Tricia's current draiknor, Sakiris' former draiknor, Close Friend (Alive)**

 **Shiro - Tricia's former draiknor, Close Friend (Deceased)**

 **Alice Ashita - Friend (Alive)**

 **Kelsi Lukkel - Leader (Alive)**

 **Karima Saijou - Superior/Comrade (Alive)**

 **Sonar - Karima's draiknor, Comrade/Friend (Alive)**

 **Hikaoki - Tricia's older sister, Acquaintance (Alive)**

 **Other:**

 **Half-Kaiko heritage: Has silvery-red blood (fast healing and immune to all diseases and poisons (except basilisk poison), cannot grow back limbs). Somewhat increased nen capacity, slightly increased speed, agility, and flexibility.**

 **Half-Hoshiko heritage: Amazing memory, specialist ability to create anything they've seen before and understand how it works.**

 **Soul Link: Can communicate telepathically with each other along with perceive what the other person/draiknor is experiencing. Increased nen capacity according to other person/draiknor's nen capacity (original capacity + other person/draiknor's capacity = current capacity). More advanced techniques are: Using each other's Nen abilities, combining Nen abilities, and swapping minds. Drawbacks: If the other person/draiknor dies, 50% of their soul and nen capacity will be permanently lost.**


	11. Cultivation Arc: Part 4

**Chapter 11**

"Yo! Tricia, Yuki!" A familiar voice called from the door.

' _Lennex!'_ Yuki practically squealed, crashing into the Council member. ' _You have gray hair now!'_

I sweatdropped at Yuki declaration, Lennex was the oldest member in the Kaiko clan at age 24 despite being arguably the least mature.

"You haven't changed at all." I sighed, "Including your inability to brush your hair for once."

Lennex frowned, running a hand through his messy blonde hair. "Is it really that bad?"

' _It's bad enough that I can't even see you cat ears,'_ The draiknor yawned. ' _Where's Gyro btw?'_

"Busy pestering Kelsi about tax rates," The blonde grinned, "Oh, over the course of the past year or so, I've created a second Hatsu." I blinked, Lennex's Supernova (it's exactly what it sounds like) was already quite powerful.

' _Wait, so that coil of rope that you picked up wasn't to hang yourself?'_ Yuki realized, having noticed the bundle of rope that the Council member now carried clipped to his belt.

"Yes and no, it's part of my Hatsu, which does not include hanging myself, but yes, I can use it to hang myself."

' _Wow...'_ Yuki said in awe, ' _So useful, where can I get one?'_

*crickets chirp in the distance, at least in my mind they do.*

"Lennex, do you have any tips on Transmuting stuff?" I asked, remembering my question, "I'm having trouble with it."

"Huh…, I also had with trouble with something similar to that. My suggestion would be to try forgetting how to manipulate so you won't be tempted to treat transmuting like manipulating. Also, keep in mind that with transmuting your aura takes on a physical shape." The gray-eyed blonde explained. I slowly nodded, understanding why I had not been successful in my attempts.

' _Anyways, what lead to your change of heart?'_ Yuki asked.

"I ran into one of the Phantom Troupe members myself." Lennex explained, "Nobunaga and Uvogin, I think. We fought for a bit before Machi showed up. At that point, I got the hell out of there. A little while after that, I found out that you guys had been attacked, so I thought that the situation was severe enough for me to actually attend this meeting."

I nodded, understanding the situation. Most likely, almost all of the Kaiko members would be recalled from any missions, save for a few, to prevent any of them from being captured and kept hostage by the Phantom Troupe.

"The Phantom Troupe knows who we are, right?" Lennex nodded. He specialized in espionage and information gathering so he would be well-informed on these kinds of matters.

"Chrollo also has his eyes on some potential new members since he knows that at least one of the Spiders will die during the auction because of us. I'm pretty sure that the new member is deeply involved with the black market as well." Lennex said, explaining the situation further. "Takuya would know more about the potential candidates though, which is another reason why I decided to attend this meeting."

' _Huh…,'_ Yuki said, thinking about the other Transmuter's response. The likelihood of Takuya knowing the potential candidate must have been high enough for Lennex to attend the meeting.

' _THE HELL LENNEX.'_ Everyone in the room practically jumped back at the sudden voice, which I recognized as Kelsi. ' _The meeting started an hour ago.'_

' _...Sorry no sorry?'_ The blonde responded with a sheepish grin, glancing around for some kind of excuse. 'I was busy committing suicide via hanging but got caught up talking- *glances at Yuki* -a shut-in otaku and- *glances at me* -a lazy catgirl/boy trap about- *glances at the stack of Cup Noodles* -the use of MSG in the Industrial Revolution.'

Silence, I could hear Kelsi facepalm almost one kilometer away. Judging by Lennex's satisfied expression, that was exactly the reaction he was aiming for.

' _Well, then finish talking to Tricia and Yuki about Cup Noodle trading and get that dying body of yours over here.'_

' _Hai Kelsi-hime!'_ The blond practically chirped back. Kelsi responded by cutting off the connection.

Yuki yawned with interest, if that was even possible.

"Well, see you later, I have a meeting to attend to." The Council member said, dismissing himself with a quick wave of his hand.

* * *

 **One week later**

 **-Hikaoki's PoV-**

"This is it." Hikaoki announced to her brown-haired companion.

Eight years ago, Shiro had claimed that her tattoos on her left arm were some kind of seal or gate. The white-feathered draiknor had been right.

Eight years ago, Shadow had told her something that had disturbed her, enough to tell Takuya about it.

" _The gatekeeper had been made a prisoner of his own blood."_ The spirit had recited, " _Locked behind bars of scarlet, never to see the light of day or the darkness of night ever again."_

" _Your creator had waited for this very day, and has given you the first key."_

For the rest of that night, the amber-eyed girl had pestered the spirit for answers. She then had a better idea of what was going on.

Eighteen years ago, her creator and foreseen the fall of the current gatekeeper and had created her, his successor.

Five keys in the form of live humans were needed, four of the keys existed as flourishing clans, but the first had died off at the original.

Sixteen years ago, her creator and found the remains of the first and pieced them together, partially cloning them to create her twin sisters, Tricia and Sakirirs.

Eight years ago, the gatekeeper had fallen.

Eight years ago, her creator had planted her in Kelsi's realm, the most convenient location to find the five keys.

Three years ago she had failed.

Now, she will succeed.

First key - Her sister, Tricia X

Second key - Hoshiko clan, Rina's twin siblings O

Third key - Senrigan clan - Unknown, Relatives of Neon Nonstrade's mother. O

Fourth key - Ryuuhane clan - Kelsi's friend, Akiryuu X

Fifth key - Unknown

"Records of the Fifth key are in here, right?" Hikaoki nodded. The past eight years had been spent discovering the identities of the five keys. Takuya had proven to be invaluable with his information network; it would have likely taken another eight for Hikaoki to accomplish such a feat on her own.

"We'll be able to locate the third key during the auction and Rina should be able to find her lost siblings in time. For now, we should focus on the fifth."

* * *

 **Quick AN: Technically, this would be a good place to end the chapter, but it's a bit lacking in length.**

 **Me: The Cultivation Arc was supposed to be a light-hearted couple of chapters, but it ended up being 100% plot building.**

 **Inner Me: Then… Let's just have a whole bunch of light-hearted short stories based on stuff Yuki/Alice/Lennex would do!**

 **Me: Huh, sounds like a good idea.**

 **Aisel-chan: ...Do you realize that you have 3 days until the end of the month?! 2 of those days will be spent** _ **on vacation**_ **and** _ **in China**_ **where** _ **Google Docs is blocked**_ **without a computer?!**

 **Me: Eh, yeah *writing this on paper in a hotel lobby***

 **Aisel-chan: You have one day to type this up if you want to be on time.**

 **Me; Whatever~ I'm usually a couple of days late anyway.**

 **Aisel-chan: ლ(** **ಠ** **益** **ಠ** **ლ), (╯** **ಠ** **益** **ಠ** **）╯︵ ┻━┻**

 **Aisel-chan: I'M TRYING TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU'RE ON TIME.**

 **OK, First before we get to the short stories, here is something I forgot to add on.**

 **-Line-**

 **-Gon and Killua's PoV-**

 **-Heaven's Arena-**

 **? Days Later**

"Huh.." Killua said in thought, observing the fight broadcasted on the TV Screen. "Isn't it that guy's 67th attempt at floor 199?"

"Really?" Gon said, "He must be really persistent in order to keeping going after failing so many times."

Both of the watched the contender's 67th attempt, sweat dropping when he surrendered without a fight.

"Maybe the last opponent was to hard for him?..." The Enhancer offered. Killua's jaw dropped when he saw the fighter take out his opponent on the 198th floor in a fraction of a second.

"That guy is stronger than me…" Killua realized, Gon looked at the fighter in both confusion and awe. **(AN From now on, this section was written on the Great wall of China.)** "He's just going back and forth to collect to prize money since there's no prize money on the 200th floor."

The hazel-haired fighter didn't look like much, and other than his sharp green cat-eyes, he really didn't stand out. But if he was stronger than Killua…

"His name is Triscar." The assassin observed, "It's kind of a girlish name, dontcha think?"

"You're right," The mountain boy replied. With his neck-length hair, he could pass for a girl. "Wait, doesn't he kind of look like Hawk?" Killua blinked, looking closer at Triscar.

 **(From now on, this section is not written on the Great Wall of China.)**

"Now that you mention it, their eyes are similar. Do you think that they might be the same person?"

"Huh," Gon wondered. He had pictured the bounty hunter as 18-19 while Triscar looked to be around Kurapika's age. "I thought he'd be older, but it's definitely a possibility. How about we talk to him?"

"Should we?" Killua questioned, wary of approaching a random person.

"There's no harm in asking." Gon answered, already getting up.

* * *

 **Everyone's PoV**

"Triscar-san!" The dark-green haired boy called out to the fighter. "Have we met before in the Hunter Exam?"

The cat-eyed contender paused for a second, a hardly noticeable flicker of recognition on his face.

"...Yes?" Triscar responded, unsure on whether he should reveal his identity or not. Gon's face lit up when he realized that the person in front of him was Hawk.

"You have a really girlish name, Triscar-san!" Killua facewalled, _That's not exactly… Socially acceptable? Proper? Then again, I'm not one to talk._

Yuki cackled with laughter at Tricia's confused expression, one that was unsure of how to respond.

"Uhh…" 'Triscar' began, "I am a girl?"

…

….

…..

…

….?

"WHAT?!" Gon and Killua shouted in unison.

Killua stood in the corner, going over every single moment with the bounty hunter. His face visibly paled when he recalled the 50 hours inside Trick Tower.

"No…" The assassin groaned/mumbled, "There is no way I lost to a girl at a video game…."

Tricia, unsure on how to react, started by offering he real name. "...You guys can call me Tricia, Triscar's an alias."

* * *

 **END OF MINI-SNIPPET**

 **Man, that was difficult to write.**

* * *

 **Alice's dilemma**

"37 severely injured, 121 mildly injured, 472 lightly injured. No casualties." Kelsi flipped to the next page. "12,000 square meters destroyed. 30,000 square meters damaged. A total of 87% of the building damaged or destroyed." The Kaiko clan leader closed the file and tossed it on top of the leaning tower of Buriram Triangle on her desk. "What do you have to say?"

"Sorry?" Alice offered, "There was a rat."

Kelsi stared at the pinkette.

"I was a big one!" The sniper/bomber said in her defense. It wasn't her fault that rats were so cute and fluffy, big ones had especially stubby adorable feet and poofy cheeks.

"Should I be concerned that you think rats and bears are the cutest animals on the planet?" The brunette sighed.

"Why?" Alice whined, "Tricia thinks that bears are cute too!" The light-brown-haired leader sweatdropped at the comment.

"...Just make sure to blow up the entire building next time so the guy's insurance will cover it."

* * *

 **Tricia's problem**

Tricia didn't want to get out of bed.

But she had too, or else the annoying ringing wouldn't stop.

"Moment of truth…" She muttered over the ringing. An idea was forming inside her mind along with the blade extending from her fingertips.

The past several weeks of training had built up to this one single moment, right now, it was sink or swim

Three inches, seven inches, ten, one foot.

Tricia's blade got past the first part easily enough.

Fifteen inches, Eighteen, ….Twenty two.

She could feel the familiar strain of nearing her limit, but she couldn't stop, not now when the ringing alarm clock was still half a meter away

Two feet, ...Twenty-eight inches, ...….Thirty inches.

This was it. No matter how hard Tricia strained, the blade refused to grow any longer than two and a half feet.

Thirty-one inches….

She was too focused on the gap between the edge of her blade and the alarm to notice her improvement.

Thirty-two inches…

Tricia strained even more, pouring every last bit of nen into the confounded blade and pulling the rest of her body beyond Zetsu in the effort to silence the annoying clock.

…Thirty-three inches

…...Thirty-four inches

…...Thirty-four and a half

No use, the blade was now flickering, threatening to disappear.

Out of ideas, the hazel-haired swordswomen lunged at the clock with waves of killing intent, dicing the clock and falling off the bed in the process.

The beeping stopped. Bits of alarm clock rained down on the floor.

"Finally…" She sighed, rolling over on the ground. _This floor is actually pretty comfortable…._

Tired from the workout and training session, Tirica fell asleep on the floor for a god-knows-how-long-nap.

Somewhere over the rainbow, a clock struck four pm.

(The funny part is not that Tricia woke up to dice her alarm clock, it's that Tricia set her alarm clock to 4 pm and still couldn't wake up.)

* * *

 **Tricia's Other Problem**

"Oh, Hi Tricia!" Killua said, greeting the sword user as he walked down the halls of Heaven's Arena. "I didn't think you'd be up this early."

"...Huh?" The older girl responded, glancing at the still-dark sky. "Oh, it's almost six."The assassin blinked in confusion, not quite understanding her response.

Seeing his confusion, Tricia continued.

"I haven't slept yet."

* * *

 **OK, I'm a bit late and I'm supposed to be going to sleep in 15 minutes so I'll have to make this short.**

 **I will be going on hiatus for a while to do some major/minor editing to the previous chapters (since they're REALLY REALLY cringey). Chapter 12 will be posted before September 15th.**

 **Profile**

 **First Pro** : **file:**

 **Lennex**

 **Alias: None**

 **Age: 24**

 **Birthday: October 29**

 **Height: 6' 2"**

 **Weight: 72 kg (because Illusion takes place in an anime, sorry)**

 **Blood Type: AB**

 **Nen Type: Transmuter**

 **Description: Messy blonde hair and gray eyes. Sometimes wears a red plaid bandana to cover his cat ears when he decides to brush his hair**

 **Hatsu: Explosions**

 **Skills:**

 **Supernova - Big explosive Rasengan**

 **? - Something to do with rope**

 **Weapon of Choice: ? Rope**

 **Relationships (The ones worth mentioning):**

 **Gryo - Draiknor (Alive)**

 **Yuki - Friend/Team player, Tricia's current draiknor (Alive)**

 **Tricia Kaiko - Friend (Alive)**

 **Kelsi Lukkel - Superior (Alive)**

 **Takuya - Comrade (Alive)**

 **Keiron - 'Kohai'/Comrade (Alive)**

 **Other:**

 **Kaiko heritage: Has cat ears and tail (increased night vision, hearing and balance), silvery-red blood (crazy-fast healing and immune to all diseases and poisons (except basilisk poison), cannot grow back limbs). Increased nen capacity, Increased speed and agility but decreased endurance.**

 **Soul Link: Can communicate telepathically with each other along with perceive what the other person/draiknor is experiencing. Increased nen capacity according to other person/draiknor's nen capacity (original capacity + other person/draiknor's capacity = current capacity). More advanced techniques are: Using each other's Nen abilities, combining Nen abilities, and swapping minds. Drawbacks: If the other person/draiknor dies, 50% of their soul and nen capacity will be permanently lost.**

 **Council Member: Say in in-clan decisions and some influence on Hunter Association**


	12. When finally, Stuff Starts Happening

"Interesting," The desk worker commented. "You're the third person to request for a job tied to the Yorknew Auction."

"Hn." The blonde replied. Once was a coincidence, Twice was the start of a pattern. What were the other two people looking for in the Yorknew Auction? If two others asked for the same job on the same day, he could imagine the number of people applying for the job.

Kurapika pondered the thought as the exited the building, then spotting a teenager on his phone.

' _That guy's still there…'_ The hazel-haired teen must've stayed in that spot almost for an hour now, as he had been there even before he had arrived; it was starting to get creepy. How did the Hunter Association staff not notice a teenager loitering in their front yard?

Kurapika had considered the possibility of the teen being a Hunter, but that seemed more improbably the more he thought about it. He hadn't seen him in the previous hunter exam, so he would have been a hunter for at least a year. In a year, it was practically impossible for a newbie hunter to still be ignorant of nen. Based on the guy's ignorance of Kurapika's presence, the possibility of him being a hunter was nonexistent.

 _What if he's just hiding his knowledge of my presence_. Kurapika stiffened up. He was confident in his knowledge of body language. Subtle motions that nobody shy of an expert would notice, let alone control, could give away precious information, and he could read them. They told him that the teen standing in front of him was a typical high schooler. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Don't you know that it's rude to stare at somebody?" The teenager said out of the blue, breaking the heavy silence. As he looked up at Kurapika, his sharp green eyes meet his, and then a flicker of recognition crossed his face. "Oh, Hi Kurapika." The stranger commented, Sending him deeper in the chasms of confusion.

"...Have we met before?" The blonde asked, he didn't remember acquainting himself which any cat-eyed teenagers before.

"Oh, yeah..." The stranger continued. "We meet at the Hunter Exam." _Wait_ \- "I'm Hawk."

Kurapika cam to the same conclusion as the bounty hunter revealed his identity. He was somewhat surprised at Hawk's true identity. He had previously thought of Hawk to be around Leorio's age, around 18/19.

Huh… Did the bounty hunter know nen? It was a question that he had wondered about and had asked his teacher. Apparently, the Ryoshi member had been a student of Kelsi Lukkel a few years back. If so, combined with his skill level, that meant his previous assumptions had been wrong.

"I'm assuming you know nen?" The blonde asked.

"How do you think I blew up the tower walls?" Huh, so he was most likely a transmuter. He had found it strange for a bounty hunter to carry around dynamite. "I heard you got the Nostrade job, I happened to take that one as well."

"Oh" Then again, it was the only job in Yorknew.

"No really," Hawk deadpanned, "And I'm secretly a cross-dressing alien coming to Earth to fulfill my passion and lifelong dream of collecting power outlets."

"...Okay?" How was he supposed to respond to that? "What leads you to wait here of all places?" The hazel-haired hunter motioned to something beyond the forest behind him.

"I'm catching the 6 pm train to Yorknew. The wifi here is free if you're a hunter." ...The 6 pm train?

"I happen to be catching that train as well." Kurapika said to the Ryoshi member, taking out his phone as well. True to his word, there was free wifi once he imputed his Hunter ID.

 _Well,_ he thought, _There is one hour before six._

* * *

 **One hour later**

"Hawk?"

"Hm?" The bounty hunter responded, watching the scenery outside the train window.

"You said that you've been to Yorknew before?" Kurapika asked, initiating a conversation in code.

"Yeah, I've been there a couple of times with some coworkers." _Yeah, I've gone there with the Ryoshi a couple of times for bounty hunting._ Kurapika frowned, trying to analyze the sentence further. _There are other strong bounties in Yorknew. Stay in a group; safety in numbers._

"Are you going with anyone this year?" _How many Ryoshi members are with you?_

"I am; we aren't meeting until later since they all have something to attend to. Now that I think about it, Jennifer was bitten by a spider a few years back so I'm not sure if she's coming" _I can't say, but all of us will be spread out around Yorknew. Watch out for the Troupe._ And probably, _You can rely on the Ryoshi if you run into anything you can't handle._ Jennifer was most likely a name that Hawk had made on the fly.

Kurapika leaned back in his seat, gazing out the window as well. He had confidence in his ability, especially after the Vows and Limitations that he had imposed on himself. Although taking on a random Phantom Troupe member would be too much for him, it would be a different story if he got to choose the location and member.

* * *

 **Nostrade family Estate**

 **Tricia's PoV**

' _Kurapika's laaaaate'_

' _Hurry uuuuup.'_

' _I sweeeeaaar, you're worse than Lennex.'_ Yuki drawled on, voicing a crowd of people by switching voices every sentence. The door opened, revealing Kurapika, who trailed behind an old man. (' _Goodness Geez! That took foveeeeever.'_ )

"I apologize for the wait. Everyone has arrived, so we will now explain the contract." The old man began, taking out a remote to turn on the TV screen.

 _'Whaddup with those lines under his eyes?'_ Yuki said aimlessly as a man appeared on the screen.

"I will start by stating the requirements." Began the man, "I won't ask whether you have a License. I'm only interested in whether you can obtain the items we request." In other words, they wanted free items, "There's one month before the auction begins. Before then, you must find one item from the list we will provide, and bring it here."

"These are the data cards." The old man said, handing out black devices with screens on them. The screen flickered to life once I pressed the on the button, showing a picture of some actress' hair.

 _'What kinda pervert wants a dead girl's hair? Even Yuno wouldn't do late. Wait, actually, she would.'_ I flicked through the list with blatant disinterest, plopping down in a god-knows how expensive chair. No matter the case, I did not have the patience for shopping lists.

 _Kurta eyes?_ I read, feeling a spike in Kurapika's nen as his eyes turned red, the screen flickered again.

 _Purified blood of a Kaiko._ The screen showed a thin vial with an even thinner line of silver. I shut the screen off with more force than necessary.

"I'll say it again. You need to only find one item from the list. If you are successful, you will be hired, and begin training as a bodyguard and a collector." Why the hell did I need to train as a collector? That wasn't in the job description. "Best of luck then."

"Huh? The door won't open." One of the candidates voiced as he tugged on the doorknob.

"Oh," The TV screen flicker back on, "I forgot to mention the final requirement. You must be strong."

The door burst open, "Strong enough to leave this mansion alive."

"...The actual?" I muttered as several nen beasts poured into the room. Six of them had swords, the three in the back who had guns began firing.

Kurapika caught some of them with his chain, two others used a table as a shield, another used the old man as a… human shield? I dragged my eyes from that scene. The bullets that were fired at me conveniently ended up in the expensive chair I was sitting in, courtesy to my illusions. As no one was watching, I very conveniently made myself invisible.

The battle went on for a bit, Kurapika somehow on the chandelier, and everyone punching/dodging/kicking the nen beasts. It wasn't difficult to figure out who was controlling them; all of the beast's nen matched one of the candidate's.

"Stop them." Huh? I looked in the direction of the voice. Kurapika had a knife against the candidate who was controlling the beasts. "I'll give you three seconds. One.. Two.. "

"Okay okay… I get it." The plant said, making the nen beasts melt and disappear. "How did you know?"

"You were always careful to stand next to others for camouflage. But when I observed from above, everything was clear." Kurapika paused. "You were the only person not under attack."

"Ah," The person said, eyeing the knife."You nailed it. My name is Shachmono Tocino. I work for the boss here, so I will be your senpai. Now, could you please drop the knife?"

Kurapika lowered his knife rather reluctantly.

The guy with the long name that I gave up remembering sat down in a chair. "I was just following orders from the boss. 'Test them by trying to kill them' or something. The five of you should be able to escape this mansion. Good luck."

Wait, five? There were six of us minus the long name dude. Wait, the other guy…

"It-" I began, prepared to finally contribute and reveal the identity of the plant.

' _NO.'_ Yuki insisted, _'You can't say anything, or else something amazing would happen.'_

 _'Okay?_ ' I responded slightly skeptical and confused. Most of the candidates glanced at me but quickly forgot their confusion as Kurapika began talking.

"I'll assume that was meant as a diversion. But either way, it was a mistake." The Kurta turned to the rest of us. "I shall determine if there are any other plants, before we all start becoming paranoid."

The blonde pulled out a chain with a metal ball at the end. Everyone watched in sacred silence as he faced each of the candidates, the ball remaining still until he pointed it toward the last person.

The chain moved.

"You are a plant." Kurapika announced.

I mentally _facepalmed_ as Yuki cackled with laughter, falling on the floor in the process. I had no idea how Yuki had awaked the powers of an oracle, but I was definitely not inclined to ask.

"Th-that's ridiculous! You can't prove that your chain is correct." The plant exclaimed in his defense.

"He's probably right. Your heart began to pound as soon as he pointed at you." A short buck toothed woman stated "If you were innocent, your heart rate would have slowly increased due to the stress of being wrongly accused. But your heartbeat immediately sped up, before gradually slowing down. The typical melody of a liar."

"That still doesn't prove anything! You two could be working together."

"I can confirm that he is right." Kurapika stated flatly, gesturing toward the woman.

"Excuse me? I think you meant 'she' not 'he'."

"Then," I said, speaking up for the first time. "If you were innocent, then why were you speaking with the person on the TV before you arrived?" Everyone stared at me. "I was the first to arrive." I explained, "Out of habit, I checked the place with En, and discovered something peculiar. Everyone else entered the estate through the front gate, but you and the other guy entered this room directly from the tenth room to the left from the third floor staircase. Am I right?"

 _Everyone_ stared at me. I recognized disbelief, awe, and shock. Mainly shock, especially from the plant.

"That room's at least 100 meters from here…" _Oh,_ that explained the shock and awe. "O-Okay," The plant began shakily, eyeing me. "Since you found me out, I'll reward you with some information. My name is Squala and I'm a manipulator. I've used my abilities to instrust something to follow a certain order. You've found me out, but that still doesn't guarantee your survival."

"Hm?" I perked up, "Instruct something to kill us if we leave?"

"Yes?" Squalla replied, confused at my enthusiasm

"That's fantastic." I could feel Kurapika debating on whether I was being serious or sarcastic. "I'm out." I said as I headed toward the door.

"Hawk-" Kurapika started.

"Nah." I responded, leaving the room while casting an illusion to make me invisible. "I'll be fine."

 _'Yuki, Do you have an idea on how to get an artifact?'_

' _Yup, I've thought of a way to get the blood. So, we need fancy equipment to purify Kaiko blood. Fancy equipment that we 1. don't have, 2. can't buy and 3. can't 'borrow'. Soooo…_ _I was thinking. Do they really know if it's actual blood? No, right? Soooo, we can just take some of your blood and add some silver dye to make it 100% silver. That way, even if they still use it, it'll still work.'_

I paused. ' _Yuki,'_

' _Yes?'_

' _You are a_ genius'

* * *

 **One month later**

"Here." I said, giving a very fancy vial on a stand in a box to the owner of the Nostrade family estate, Light Nostrade.

' _I swear, we must've spent enough money on the vial and dye to buy actual blood.'_

' _I didn't think the dye would be that expensive. At this rate, I won't have enough money for Cup Noodles…'_

"My name is Dalzollene, I am the Head bodyguard of the Nostrade family." The guy from the TV screen said to all of us as we headed somewhere. "As of now, you are a bodyguard of the Nostrade family. During the Auction, you will be guarding Neon Nostrade, whom you will meet shortly." Dalzollene stopped in front of a door, knocking and then opening the door. "Neo-"

"TRICIACHII!" The girl whom I assumed was Neon rushed out and tackled me. Everyone once again stared at me.

"Wait a moment." Dalzollene said, peeling Neon off of me, "You are a girl." I could feel Kurapika's shock filling up the room.

"Yes?" I said slowly, "Did I not introduce myself to the front gate as Tricia Hawk?"

Dalzollene inhaled very slowly, facepalmed and then exhaled. "Please tell me you were lying."

"I wasn't."

"Hawk-san, words cannot express how sorry I feel for you right now."

"Triciachii! How old are you?" Neon exclaimed, growing tired of Dalzollene's sulking.

"...Sixteen?" The bluenette's face lit up.

"I'm older than you by a year, so that makes me your senpai! You can call me Neon-senpai, Triciachii."

"Okay…" The older girl waited eagerly. "...Neon-senpai."

Neon promptly squealed and tackled me again, "We're going to have _so_ much fun together, Triciachii! Shopping, the auction, even _more_ shopping…" Wait, did she say shopping? I stared at Kurapika for help. Kurapika promptly looked away, sealing my fate with a demon by the name of Neon Nostrade.

' _My best friend Yuki-sama-'_ I called in desperation.

' _NOPE.'_

* * *

 **(You have to read Yuki's profile btw)**

 **IMMA BACK**

 **On time.**

 **Thankfully.**

 **Ok! I didn't mention this in the last chapter but Tricia's name in Heaven's Arena, Triscar, actually comes from a book called Triss by Brian Jacques. The main character's name is Trisscar, although she is referred to as 'Triss'.**

 **In the first draft of Illusion, Yuki called Tricia 'Tris' whenever Yuki wanted something.**

 **(By this point, has anyone realized that I've kept Yuki gender neutral? I made a few slip-ups here and there but (I think) I've already fixed all of them.**

 **ANYWAYS, I enjoy torturing Tricia and Tricia suffering because of Neon has always been in the manuscripts no matter how many drafts I go back to. Next chapter will be dark-ish plot lined with suffering, so see ya at the end of September.**

 **(Btw, My ELA teacher is teaching short stories this year and requires us to write some, so keep an eye out for Illusion: Short Stories. They will not affect my non-existent update schedule.)**

 **Yuki**

 **Alias: None**

 **Age: ?**

 **Birthday: ?**

 **Height: 11"**

 **Weight: 5 kg**

 **Blood Type: Unknown**

 **Nen Type: Transmuter**

 **Description: Sky blue and white draiknor**

 **Hatsu: Explosions and Wind**

 **Skills:**

 **Landmines - Creates a field of disguised explosions**

 _ **Katsu!**_ **(Not the person) (a.k.a. Exploding lasers) - Explosive missile/lasers**

 **Wings - manipulates air flow to allow flight**

 **Yuki's naming skills leave much to be desired.**

 **Weapon of Choice: ? Is this even possible?**

 **Relationships (The ones worth mentioning):**

 **Tricia Kaiko - Kaiko partner (Alive)**

 **Sakiris Kaiko - Former Kaiko Partner (Deceased)**

 **Killuko - Close Friend (Deceased)**

 **Shiro - Close Annoying Friend (Deceased)**

 **Kelsi Lukkel - Overly annoying tax collector (Definitely alive)**

 **Gyro - Rival and Frienemy-in-Arms (Alive)**

 **Lennex - Entertaining rival and old hag (Alive)**

 **Rina Hoshiko - Normal-ish Friend (Alive)**

 **Alice Ashita - More annoying Friend (Alive)**

 **Blossom - Very Amusing Friend (Alive)**

 **Hikaoki - ? (Alive)**

 **Angel - ? (Alive)**

 **That one cashier who always works the Sunday night shift - ?! (Hopefully Alive)**

 **Other:**

 **Soul Link: Can communicate telepathically with each other along with perceive what the other person/draiknor is experiencing. Increased nen capacity according to other person/draiknor's nen capacity (original capacity + other person/draiknor's capacity = current capacity). More advanced techniques are: Using each other's Nen abilities, combining Nen abilities, and swapping minds. Drawbacks: If the other person/draiknor dies, 50% of their soul and nen capacity will be permanently lost.**


	13. Tricia's Hell, Kurapika's Encounter

"Kurapika."

"Yes."

"I'm stepping outside for a minute."

"Huh?"

"Neon's getting really annoying."

Kurapika stared at me in disbelief. "We're on an airship."

"So…?"

"...Okay?" I've never seen somebody so confused in their life.

"Later," I replied, opening the door and leaping out, closing it behind me because I'm not a jerk. Why the airship has doors that allow passengers out _during the flight_ is beyond me.

"Kurapika-kun!" A very familiar and annoying voice chirped. "Have you seen Triaciachii?"

"...No?" Replied a still confused Kurapika, who was praying to god that Neon would never bother him as she did to Tricia. The bluenette ran off at his answer.

Outside, I sighed rather loudly. Crisis avoided.

-Line-

 **At Yorknew**

"Nooo….." I, the half-dead Kaiko drawled as I was dragged into a clothing shop. Two other bodyguards trailed after us, burdened by numerous bags and boxes.

(And on that day, Tricia received a grim reminder. She lived in fear of shopping malls, and was disgraced to live in the cage she called a 'working contract'...)

"Triciachii!" Neon exclaimed, holding up two ridiculous dress the girl would never end up wearing. "Which one looks better on me?" I stared at the two dresses, cursing their existence while trying to decide which one looked less hideous.

"The blue one…?" I said as Neon plopped the dress into their overflowing shopping cart. "How many more shops do we have to browse through?"

"Hmm, the rest of this mall, the mall across the street, and the one 20 minutes from here, which opens 24/7." I and the two other bodyguards mentally groaned in sync as Neon's words escaped her mouth. Malls had around 20 clothing shops and this one had 5 more left. Neon spent around one episode in each shop, so about 45 episodes until I will be free…

-Line-

 **2 Hours Later.**

The two bodyguard and attendants who were carrying loads of clothing q quite literally dumped their burdens into the trunks of their six very expensive limos. They then proceeded to pick up an overflowing shopping cart with extreme difficulty and dump its contents into the half fill limbo.

"Neon-sama," one of the bodyguards pleaded, "May we please take a rest?"

The bluenette was already at the entrance to the next mall, "What? But I'm not tired yet! I'm going to continue shopping. You're coming too right, Triciachii~?"

I groaned inwardly, knowing that there was absolutely no way of an escape.

' _I pray to you, your highness, the draiknor who rules above all. Please, allow me to send my nightmares to the Netherlands. I will offer you an unlimited supply of Tropical Cup Noodles for life.'_

' _NOPE_ ,' Yuki responded defiantly, currently eating a Tropical Cup Noodle.

' _Please, She is really getting on my nerves. Even Kurapika surrendered.'_ I said while glancing at Kurapika, who had never looked so done with life.

' _As of now_ ,' Yuki added, most likely in an effort to remain sane, ' _I solemnly swear to stay out of Tricia's personal Neon problems.'_

-Line-

 **Two Tricia Days Later, or 10 hours**

"Please tell me you're NOT going to make us shop the whole night, right?" One of the bodyguards blinked sleepily. Neon had taken six episode longer than expected, leaving Tricia done with the world and ready to rage quit.

"Look!" Neon said, talking over the bodyguard, "That necklace goes perfectly with this dress, don't you think, Triciachii~!?"

Neon's companions groaned simultaneously. They had made it to the last shopping mall on Neon's list. Based on the amount of time they had spent the last one, it would be seven in the morning by the time they were set free. Although, even at the prospect of several more hours of hell, they toiled on, striving for the light at the end of the tunnel that they called a 'paycheck'.

For me though, this was my own personal hell. Seated right next to Neon, I would always be the center of Neon's cruel attention. Thank god she hadn't asked me to try on any of the dresses though.

' _Now I feel bad for you. No wait, I promised to stay out of this_.' Yuki said rather suddenly.

' _What goes around comes around, you'll spend your time in hell as well.'_ I lashed out rather bitterly.

-Line-

 **Much, much Later**

The first rays of the sun broke through the clouds as the group finally exited the mall.

"Hey, Triciachii~!" Neon shouted as she tackled the Kaiko, "What should I wear today?"

"All of them look nice on you." Tricia said with an extremely tortured, sickly sweet expression. Cue inward groan. "Neon-senpai."

The six limos were now practically sinking with the weight of the clothes, all stuffed to the brim with items with barely enough space for the drivers to squeeze in.

Weight per limo: Before, 2.5k Now,3.5k.

-Line-

 **? Later**

"I'll take all of the early morning to afternoon watched from here on out." After the incident, I took extra measures to ensure that she would have minimal contact with Neon.

"You sure?" Dalzollene said, frowning. "You'll be standing guard for fifteen hours, 12 am to 3 pm."

"I'm positive."

"Okay, see you in three hours." I left, grinning/smirking at an exploit that I had found. The bodyguarding job paid less than I needed, so I ended up having to put off renting a room to keep Yuki's stomach happy.

But here's the thing. I had found out a way to sleep while on duty using En. Kelsi's orbs negated the need to store spare stuff somewhere. (It was impossible to carry a spare set of sword on you.)

The auction would begin a week, preferably, I would be able to get a read on the Phantom Troupe's location. Tomorrow night, I would be meeting up with Hikaoki and Rina.

' _Hikaoki's bringing the yangire that she's babysitting. I pretty sure her name was Cheriko, right?" Yuki commented._

' _Oh yeah, Takuya can't come since he's busy doing something else. Rina mentioned that she might get Luna to tag along as well since she's another sensor and everything. '_

' _Oh yeah, she's a Ravin! Like Takuya except that she had both eyes since Takuya's was implanted and that her full name is Luna Ravin.'_ Huh, if I remembered correctly, Luna was that overpowered sword user that wore those insane elevator boots when she wasn't fighting. Not that I blame her though, anyone would if they were 4' 8".

Now that I thought of it, I had heard of Cheriko before, somewhere on the black market. Blood Reaper Cheriko Himura.

 _Ominous,_ I thought with a shudder. Himura could be translated to mean scarlet or red village. If 'scarlet' referred to blood, then either Cheriko had a sick sense of humour or some higher being had too much time on their hands.

(Somewhere over the rainbow, Aisel sneezes.)

I sighed, Yuki commented on my new habit of turning into Hikaoki. There was stuff to do, bounties to be collected, and too little time.

-Line-

 **Kurapika's PoV**

Ever since he had meet Haw-Tricia, many questions had arose, but little to no answers came forth.

Why would a _bounty hunter_ and _Ryoshi member_ be doing in a bodyguarding job? How the heck did she walk out of the Nostrade estate, confident that she would remain unscathed? How did she just walk out of an airship? What did she do to earn death threats from the Zoldyck family?

Kurapika had plenty- no- dozens of more questions. Especially concerning the last one. He had clearly remembered Killua's face when Gon explained why Hawk hadn't been there. Suspicion. He was confident that the assassin had felt suspicious about the whole situation at that time.

If so, why?

Kurapika stayed like that for a while, trying to figure out the enigma that was Tricia, until he felt a flash of nen, and then a scream.

 _Where was it?_ He thought, looking around frantically.

The alleyway.

Without a second's pause, he dashed into the alley, eyes flicking red and scanning his surroundings he got closer to a potential Phantom Troupe member.

He stopped dead in this tracks.

"Kao-chan!" A girl's voice chirped. Most likely a 14-15-year-old. "Who's next? Anyone else?"

Kurapika heard an audible sigh from a second person. "Nobody." The second was obviously older, probably a young woman 19-22. He could almost feel the younger girl pout.

"Aww… Can't you ask Foxie for more?" The blonde paused for a moment, trying to match up the two nen users in the alleyway to Phantom Troupe members. It didn't make sense for a Phantom Troupe member to take orders from someone higher, especially if she was against it. Based on their conversation, the two had a list of people to kill for some reason or another. The Phantom Troupe he knew wouldn't do that, opting for doing whatever they wanted to.

Looking back, Kurapika would admit that he had been so engrossed in his thoughts and _forgot_ the danger he was in.

That was, until he felt a blade pressed to his neck.

Then he knew he was screwed so badly that nothing short of a miracle could save him.

"Name, nen type, and reason for being in Yorknew." The older woman said in a deathly quiet and commanding tone. Kurapika opened his mouth, prepared to give a fake identity.

"I'll know if you're lying." The blade against his neck tightened, any more and it would draw blood. _How had she known?_

"Kurapika, Conjurer, Bodyguard of the Nostrade family." The blade came off of his throat. Now that he got a better view of it, the blade had a scythe, one with two extra hooks at the back of the main blade.

With that, the Kurapika took off running toward the main street. He didn't dare to look back, only stopping when he had reached the busiest section of Yorknew. A while later, the clock struck 11:45.

-Line-

 **Nonstrade Hotel**

"Kurapika, reporting for the early morning shift." He said, taking Baise's place as guard. The woman huffed off, saying something about how this job was giving her eye bags. He could only mask his surprise when he saw Tricia leaning on the stair bannister in some lackadaisical manner. She glanced up.

"Well, that's some ghost you just saw." The bounty hunter said rather offhandedly with a sidelong glance. He internally debated telling the Ryoshi member about the encounter, then deciding to, knowing that she would know more about the situation.

"Actually," How the heck was he supposed to start? 'I was almost killed 5 minutes ago by mercenaries?' "I met some mercenaries around 20 minutes ago." Tricia raised an eyebrow. "I didn't see their faces, but there were two of them. Both were women, one 14-15 and the other 19-22, or at least based on their voices. The younger one call the older 'Kao-chan' and mentioned someone she called 'Foxie'. The older used a scythe with two hooks in the back."

Now, it was a rather curious thing, to watch Tricia's face go through a variety of expression before settling on…. he didn't know. First, mild interest, the suspicious, and then… disbelief?

"Congratulations." Tricia said in a dry tone, "Quest Completed: Meet the Family." Kurapika couldn't have been more confused. The bounty hunter signed before continuing. "That was my older sister."

"...What?" Cue second sigh.

"The older one you mentioned is my 18-year-old older sister, known as Raven. The younger one is 17, known as Blood Reaper Cheriko Himura. You probably thought she was 15 because of her high-pitched voice. 'Foxie' is Fox, co-founder of the Ryoshi and one of the most influential figures in the black market."

".. _What?"_ Kurapika repeated, even more confused than before. "So your older sister is mercenary who hangs out with a sociopathic murderer who happens to work under _one of the most influential figures in the black market._ "

"Pretty much sums it up. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd love to finish my nap."

"You people are _insane._ " Tricia very conveniently did not hear his last comment. A few minutes later she was fast asleep, leaning against the bannister and having cast out her En.

Kurapika sighed, leaning back. Something, something inside him said to enjoy the blissful peace right now.

* * *

 **Okay okay, I get it, this chapter is short.**

 **Long story short, I didn't start this chap up until 4 days ago. Aisel is throwing spoons at me right now. Why this is out at 10pm? To put is simply, 3 essays, one mini-essay, finishing one narrative, and 20 paragraphs each answering a question. I had that for homework (spent 4-5 hours on it, RIP my life)**

 **Thanks, Kashiko, for saving my life. Truely apperciated.**

 **Cheriko Himura**

 **Alias: Blood Reaper Cheriko**

 **Age: 17**

 **Birthday: ?**

 **Height: 5' 5"**

 **Weight: 54kg (116 Lbs)**

 **Blood Type: B**

 **Nen Type: Specialist**

 **Description: Pink hair, blue eyes, high pitched voice and acts like a child. Wears a half white half black cat hoodie. Known as a yangire**

 **Hatsu: Blood Manipulation**

 **Skills:**

 **Unknown**

 **Weapon of Choice: Dagger and Pistol**

 **Relationships (The ones worth mentioning):**

 **Unknown**

 **Hikaoki - Senpai (Alive)**

 **Takuya - Superior (Alive)**


	14. The Terror of the 4' 8 Assassin

The auction was tomorrow.

If my half-dead instincts told me anything, it would be that things would not be going according to plan.

"Tricia?" A quiet voice called out in the alleyway.

"Oh, Hi Rina," I responded to the 15-year-old sensor. "Is Luna coming?"

"Yeah, she should be here any-"

' _OTAKU FRIEND!'_ Yuki practically screamed, tumbling out of nowhere to tackle a figure on the roof. Or shadow, I would say.

"YUKI!" The figure yelled back while trying to wrestle a mass of feathery-draiknor off of her.

' _LUNA!'_

"YUKI!"

' _LUNA!'_

"I think they're sufficiently weirded out now."

"Haw… I believe so too."

"Hi Yuki, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Haw haw, true true. you're still as short as ever." Luna promptly dropped Yuki off the building. If weirding me and Rina out was their goal, I'd think that it'd be safe to say they had succeeded with plenty to spare.

Both Rina and I sweatdropped as Luna and Yuki went into a rant/debate about their heights, Yuki arguing that 11" was perfectly fine for a draiknor and Luna saying that she was now 5'0". Yuki responded by pointing out her boots, which had a 3-inch sole and a one-inch heel.

"...Seriously?" Another new and familiar voice said. All four of us excluding Rina froze at Hikaoki's sudden appearance. She sighed.

"Where's Cheriko?" I noted, being the first to overcome the shock of my older sister's appearance.

"I told her to wait at a weapon store." Oh, that made a lot of sense. From what I had heard, Cheriko was similar to Neon; if Neon was a bloodthirsty sociopath with knives, of course.

"Anyways, Taku found out that the Shadow Beasts is coming to the auction as well, just keep an eye out for them tomorrow night. We'll be splitting into three, Cheriko and me, Tricia's with Yuki, and everybody else. Luna and Rina will be staying near Trica while looking for Phantom Troupe, I'd say… Luna, what's your range?"

"700 meters."

"600 meters then. You'll be looking for the Phantom Troupe, engage the weaker and track the stronger. Tricia will act as your first line of backup. Taku will act as your second. Tricia, if anything happens on your end, report directly to Taku via Yuki. Got it?" A chorus of 'yes's, 'got it's, and 'aye captain's filled the alleyway.

"I've actually found their base," Luna commented out of the blue. "It's around 1 kilo north-northwest, Takuya or Kelsi should be able to find it." Hikaoki nodded, most likely having a telepathic conversation with Angel and Takuya.

"Got it, we'll most likely plan an ambush at a later date."

-Line-

 **The Day After That (Auction)**

' _Ne, Yuki.'_

' _Hm?'_

' _Do you think the Raikori and Hunter's Bane will be enough?'_ I asked, referring to the ability Yuki and I had worked on over the summer months. We had managed to get the basic components of each sword down but had only completed two of them, the rest were incomplete. The original plan was to have all seven swords done by September, but we had ran into some unplanned difficulties.

' _I think? Don't forget that you can use Kenshi as a hot flash bomb though.'_ I scoffed at Yuki's comment. We had planned for Kenshi to be a sword of light that reacted to the amount of nen I used, but the sword ended up being a very unstable floppy stick that exploded at random.

' _I guess?'_ I shrugged. So far, nothing significant had happened. Kurapika and Melody had taken the front entrance watch along with me and I was currently camping out on top of a random building. Kurapika and Melody on the porch of said building like normal people.

I had a sudden feeling of… instinct?

"Guys!" I called out to the two figures that were several floors below me. "Is it just me or did something happen?" Both Kurapika and Melody turned their attention to the building.

"I don't see anything!" Kurapika called back. I stared at the auction building. Wait, it was around 100 meters away, so I could use my En….

"I'm going to use En to check the building!" Kurapika and Melody both stared at me in disbelief. One quick flash of masked En…

 _What the actual_.

"The auction room is empty, the Phantom Troupe is _escaping_ via hot air balloon!" Both bodyguard momentarily forgot their disbelief/awe the moment I mentioned 'Phantom Troupe'.

"Don't chase them if you're not suicidal!" I hissed at Kurapika, who was ready to jump off the balcony. "You can't kill the entire Troupe at once, not even Kelsi could do that!" Kurapika's eyes dimmed for a second,

realizing how outmatched he was.

' _Luna, you see that?'_ I said to the 15-year-old Ravin.

' _Yes, Hikaoki is tracking down Hisoka; He wasn't with the Troupe. Rina and I are trying to figure out the whereabouts of the few other members. Follow the balloon, but do not engage.'_

' _Got it.'_ I turned my attention back to Kurapika.

"The Shadow Beasts will take care of the Troupe," I said, jumping down to the balcony. In reality, the Shadow Beasts wouldn't stand a chance against the Troupe, but I needed some way to calm him down. "We need to find the others. I'll go ahead since my Hatsu works poorly in large groups."

For now, I just needed to buy time. Rina and Luna could pick off any of the lone members and Hikaoki and Cheriko could defeat or at least hold back Hisoka. I just needed to keep an eye on the majority of the Troupe and make sure they didn't interfere with Luna's job. I would have a difficult time watching so many members at once, so I needed to bring the other bodyguards with me.

I sighed, assuring myself that Luna and Rina would be fine. Luna had the highest kill count from the werewolf war and Rina was a great support. Right now, I just needed to do my job.

-Line-

 **Luna's PoV**

As soon as Luna's eyes flickered silver, she realized something. Something rather important.

There were _fourteen_ members. Not thirteen, _fourteen._

No matter how many times the swordswoman counted and recounted, she still had the same number. Fourteen. Luna was sure of it. Ten in the balloon, Hisoka and Chrollo were dealing with Council members and Hikaoki, and _two_ more standing guard, lurking around the vicinity of the Auction house.

How did she know that they were members? Simple. Upon their initiation, the members most likely had to sign some kind of contract, binding some of their spiritual energy to their Leader. With her Ravin eyes and heritage, she could easily pick out those people.

"We should take out the two on guard," Luna began to her blind teammate. "I think they're transmuter based Specialists."

"Got it." The Hoshiko responded, turning to the direction of the two Spiders. Both nen users slowly eased into a state of Zetsu, Rina relaying on a modified version of echolocation to navigate the alleyways.

The Ravin narrowed her eyes at the situation, a feeling of foreboding looming above her. Something felt obviously _wrong,_ in ways that she couldn't picture. It was the same feeling from when she first met Hikaoki, or when she received word of Hisoka's threat.

 _"Tell your master that I haven't forgotten about her, kitten~"_

She shuddered, preparing herself for whatever happened next. Right now there was an enemy right around the corner, one that needed to be eliminated. With that thought, she unsheathed her twin blades and donned her porcelain cat mask.

Her mind was put at ease one she felt the familiar weight of her mask. Right now, she was Silver. The legendary assassin, second to only Fox.

Silver's eyes snapped open, cold and calculating. She rushed out, only a shadow among shadows, at the two figures in the deserted alleyway.

Two identical targets, one with red hair and the other with blue. Most likely either twins or clones. They looked to be around ten years old.

Mid-swing, Luna loosened her hold on Draikio, her resident demon. Black tendrils curled up her blades, preparing to meet its mark. Last second, the twins dodged, escaping with an inch-deep cut.

Both twins wore a mask of indifference, blank and seemingly unaffected by their wounds.

Simultaneously, the two Troupe members raised their hands.

"Abyssal Prison." Fire and water respectively erupted from the twin's hands, surrounding the three of them in a dome of water and fire in a blink of an eye.

 _Greek fire?_ Well, it certainly was possible to transmute chemical fire, so recreating the properties of a lost weapon wasn't too big of a stretch. She assumed that their strategy involved waiting out their opponents, submerging them in water to limit their moments and hinder their thinking process. With the layers of fire around the dome, it was safe to say that she would not be getting out anytime soon.

It was possible that the water user was able to manipulate the water to allow both of them to breathe, so they could stay underwater for as long as they needed. Luna, on the other hand, could only hold her breath for 7 minutes, at most.

It was easy to tell how the two ten-year-olds made it into the Phantom Troupe. At this point, most nen users would already be screwed since most didn't prepare for underwater battle.

But then again, Luna wasn't exactly 'most nen users'.

' _Draikio!'_ She exclaimed to her resident demon, releasing her hold on the spirit.

' _Got it!'_

Almost immediately, the tendrils curling around her blade expanded, hardening into spikes and practically exploding. The Spiders would have to escape the prison in order to have a chance of survival. What they didn't know was that Luna could only hold that form for a handful of seconds.

'Kai!" They both exclaimed simulation, dashing to the side in the nick of time.

A large black wall appeared seemingly out of nowhere, taking out the option of running for help. Both of them glanced up, only to see the last rays of moonlight disappear under another stone wall.

The swordswoman grinned, cloaking herself entirely with her ability. She had the advantage with her Ravin eyes, and inside the dome, it was pitch-black.

Luna focused on the two blobs of blue and red that were the Troupe members.

From there on, the assassin's hunt began. She was the hunter, and they were the prey. She was Silver, the feared assassin and killer, and they were spiders, pests to be crushed.

Without a moment's notice, Luna dashed in, beating back the two members in the darkness, giving them no time to rest or to use their abilities. They were good, the assassin admitted that it took skill to avoid two blades and a welder in the dark.

The floor glowed a faint sky blue, the color of Rina's nen. She was going mostly trying to grasp what was going on inside the chamber, attempting to support the Ravin to the fullest.

' _Something-'_ The sensor was cut off as she started.

Light poured into the dome, temporarily blinding Luna.

 _What?_ She thought, eyes narrowing suspiciously, and then falling upon the used flash grenade on the floor.

Red and Blue used this chance to power up their abilities, sending columns of fire and water at the shadow-user. A shield of shadow blocked them, allowing the assassin to recover from the flash of light.

When it was all over, the two troupe members were gone.

"The actual?" Luna hissed under her breath. Rina unsummoned the walls, searching for the two alongside Luna. The assassin had tagged the two Transmuters, so how had they gone out of her 1400 meter range in a matter of seconds?

"Right here." The Hoshiko stated, standing on the spot where the two had previously been. "Traces of foreign nen. It's already disappeared so I couldn't get a read on the user."

"A teleportation ability?" The Ravin wondered out loud. "No, most likely a nen-created space. Is there a realm user in the Phantom Troupe?" Rina pursed her lips, asking Sakurami.

"As far as we know, no. I'll ask Takuya and Lennex to investigate." If the realm user helped the two Troupe members, it was possible that he was either a member himself or had connections to the Troupe.

Either way, things were not looking so good. One of the few advantages the Kaikos had against the Phantom Troupe was their knowledge of the member's abilities. The Kaikos might have 48 members to the Troupe's fourteen but many of the Kaikos were only ordinary teenage nen users, lacking in experience and power. Only a few of then could face off a Spider and hope to escape alive, and even fewer could take out a member.

That aside, they needed to tell Takuya and Kelsi of this new development.

-Line-

 **^^^ Too short chapter that took way too long to write (at least I posted on time). My classmate is looking over my shoulder so I have to cut this short.**

 ***cries* Two weeks for a 2k chapter….**

 **Luna Ravin**

 **Alias: Silver**

 **Age: 15**

 **Birthday: December 5**

 **Height: 4' 8"**

 **Weight: 31.5 kg (70 lb)**

 **Blood type: AB**

 **Nen Type: Specialist**

 **Description: Black shoulder-length hair and blue (silver) eyes. Abnormally short**

 **Hatsu: Demon Summoning**

 **Skills: Unknown**

 **Occupation: Scout/Assassin**

 **Weapon of Choice: Twin Katanas**

 **Relationships (the ones known/mentioned):**

 **Rina Hoshiko - Cousin and Friend (Alive)**

 **Yuki - Annoying Cup Noodle Comrade (Alive)**

 **Takuya - ...Acquaintance? (Alive)**

 **Kelsi - Oh-so-annoying boss and landlord (Alive)**

 **Hikaoki - Messenger Raven (Alive)**

 **Other:**

 **Ravin eyes: Ability to see nen in a certain ability. Has a sub ability 'tracking', which can track a person for twice the user's normal area, but slowly decreases their area vision as the tracked targets gets closer to their tracking limit.**


	15. Shovels are difficult to find

**Cheriko's PoV**

 **Earlier**

"And maybe it's a dream, maybe nothing else is real…" Blood-colored fireworks exploded, painting the scene scarlet red.

"..But it wouldn't mean a thing if I told you how I feel~" Silence greeted the murderess' song.

"Hey, Hiso-kun~" She purred, approaching the corpse and tilting his head up with a hand.

Cold, empty eyes and a twisted simile stared back.

"What's it like in hell?~"

-Line-

 **Draikio's PoV**

Something was changing.

And there would be consequences.

Without a doubt.

Definitely.

-Line-

' _OH GOD.'_

' _Hm?'_ I responded to Yuki's outburst, observing the Shadow Beast's and Uvogin's fight while maintaining an AOE illusion to conceal our presence, something rather difficult in the presence of strong nen users.

' _Rina's telling me that there are fourteen members and at least two of them are new. There is a possibility of a new member, one with teleporting or realm using abilities. The other two are transmuter/transmuter-specialists with water and chemical fire abilities.'_

"Fan-freaking-tastic" I hissed under my breath, illusion wavering. Kurapika was going Emo-Super Saiyan and Melody was calming him down with her flute, something that would be rather difficult to cover along with Kurapika's-not-very-quiet declarations of revenge.

"Fine, I'll capture him." Kurapika decided, eyes dimming back to a gray-brown. "Now that I think about it, I wonder how he got that scar…"

"Hm?" I answered, spying a long horizontal scar that stretched across Uvogin's back. "Oh, you mean that?" Every one of the bodyguards turned to me. "My older sister almost cut him in half once, too bad his comrades stepped in though."

The shock on their faces was evident, all with the same expression that read 'Who the heck is your older sister?' I sighed, completely used their reaction, although Kurapika remained unfazed.

"Does this have to do with your relationship to the Ryoshi?" The blonde asked.

"Yes. Too bad I'm not a prodigy like my sister though, she gave him that scar when she was my age." Everyone gaped at me, who was sighing up a storm. If I lost three seconds of my life every time I sighed, I would already be dead. Along with Hikaoki, of course.

' _Don't worry Tricia,'_ Yuki said reassuringly while flying overhead, not eating Cup Noodles for once, ' _Hikaoki's just a workaholic and trains every day.'_ While I did appreciate Yuki's attempt at making me feel better about myself, the draiknor only emphasized on my tendency to not train very often.

' _Somehow, that makes me feel even more depressed…'_

-Line-

 **The Next Day**

 **Chrollo's PoV**

"Hisoka is dead?"

"Yes," Machi responded. "I'm certain of it."

Chrollo inwardly groaned. As troublesome as he was, Hisoka was one of their top members in terms of strength. If someone killed him, it was possible that they would come after the rest of the Troupe.

But to be honest, he was more concerned about Okami, their new member.

"How did he die?" Okami asked through a mouthful of candy, sprawled over one of the stone benched while playing some sort of game. Despite his childish looks and silver-tipped black hair, he had revealed to Chrollo that he was actually 24 and extremely powerful in his own right.

"Unknown," Machi replied rather flatly. The others had not taken the addition of three kids to the Troupe as well as he would have hoped. "Most likely some sort of internal nen attack. There were multiple open wounds on his body and all of his organs were either ruptured or fully destroyed. The scene was also covered in his blood."

The room was silent except for the sounds from Okami's gaming console.

"Sounds like the Blood Reaper." The young teen said idly, tapping away at his game. "Cheriko Himura. She allied herself with the Ryoshi a few months back. I saw Silver and Rina Hoshiko as well."

"Hoshiko?" The twins chorus in sync. "There's another survivor…"

"Righty-o. She's blind, but one hell of a sensor. Between her and Silver, there's no way they haven't found this place yet."

"Then what are we doing here?!" Nobunaga yelled in frustration, standing up while pointing an accusing finger toward the new member. Okami merely raised an eyebrow while sparing the Encacher a glance. "We've already been here been here for almost six hours Why didn't you tell us earlier? Are you trying to kill us while you hide in your realm playing some game?"

"Nah." Okami shrugged, his eyebrows furrowing in concentration as he approached the boss monster. "They'd find us out anyway, no matter where we were. If that's the case we may as well stay here where we have the advantage of knowing the area better. In any case, let me just finish this level."

Once again, the room was silent except for the boy's game.

Okami was an enigma of sorts. He had entered the Troupe by killing Franklin right around the time the twins had taken Bonolov's place.

Originally, Chrollo was reluctant to let the twins share the same spot but had allowed it once he received word that the Ryoshi would be hunting them and when the twins offered to kill a second member. Now, he was glad that he had made that choice. Uvogin had been captured the day before. If the Ryoshi decided to ambush them now, they at least would have thirteen fighters instead of twelve.

 _Chain user…_ The troupe leader pondered, _Is he a Nostrade bodyguard?..._

-Line-

 **Uvogin's PoV**

 **Note: Some cursing because Uvogin doesn't care about keeping this fic family friendly.**

When Uvogin woke up, he wasn't too sure if he could trust his eyes. After all, his assumed guard was unconscious.

Unconscious. Either the Troupe was trying to bust him out or he was going insane. Maybe it has to do with those leeches. No wait. His guard was sleeping _._

Sleeping _._ In front of a Phantom Troupe member. Granted, he was restrained to a table and on muscle relaxants but still.

"Geez, this guy's even better than Okami when it comes to half-assing work." The Spider muttered under his breath, remembering the time when the boy had shoved dismembered bodies into a neighbor's swimming pool when asked to 'get rid of the evidence' (but they've got one of those pool covers!).

His teenage guard stirred awake.

"Oh." He exclaimed very un-surprised when he saw Uvogin up and about, or he would be if he could move. "You're awake. If anyone asked, I was vigilantly stalking you in your sleep." Hm? So he wanted him to pretend that he hadn't seen the guard sleeping.

"But what if I don't want to?" The troupe member replied, partly because he felt like crapping on somebody's reputation today and partly because this one spot on his back that he couldn't scratch was very, very itchy.

"Then I'll decide that you have one too many arms." He replied while checking his nails. (Did teenage boys even do that nowadays?)

"Huh," Uvogin remarked. He was somewhat intimidating, at least. Maybe an extra point or two for effort, or lack thereof. "This is when you call your buddies, no?"

"Yes, and no." The guard stated. "I was in the middle of a really nice dream, so just pretend to be unconscious for an extra hour. Or preferably, the rest of the day." Like hell he would. As far as Uvogin was concerned, there were some leeches that were going to eat him inside out by tonight.

"Ok. Perfect timing." The hazel-haired boy raised an eyebrow. "You see, I have to take a _really_ big s-"

"If the next word out of your mouth rhymes with 'slit', that's _exactly_ what I'm doing to your throat." Uvogin blinked, rather perplexed at the guard's stare. " _While_ you watch the live-action remake of Dragonball."

Uvogin didn't know what the hell this 'Dragonball' was, but by the way he said it, he didn't want to know. But why was he trying to prevent him from-

"Because I have to pay Aisel half a million for every swear that makes this fanfiction not family friendly."

"Who's Aisel?" What the heck..?

"Hm?" He inquired.

"Who. Is. Aisel?"

"What do you mean?" Uvogin _sighed._

"The person you mentioned five lines ago."

"No idea what you're talking about." The guard replied, rolling over and falling asleep once again.

The Troupe member had no idea what the heck was going, but he had no intention of finding out what the 'live-action remake of Dragonball' was.

-Line-

 **Later**

 **Tricia's PoV**

"Yeah. Mr. I-need-to-take-a-really-big-crap just woke up and promoted himself to the position of 'king'." I paused, holding my phone at an arm's length. Indistinguishable yelling/screaming was heard. Silence. I brought the phone to my ear once again. "Yes. He's definitely awake. I threatened Dragonball Evolution so he won't be throwing profanities around anytime soon."

"Ok?..." Was Danzolle's response. "We'll be there in a few."

"Got it," I replied, hanging up, then turning to Uvogin. "One word and you'll be bingeing Twilight."

"Yes yes…" He said rather offhandedly. The Spider had been surprisingly obedient once I offered to castrate him.

The door to the holding room opening, revealing a rather stoic and determined Kurapika.

"Tricia." He began. Uvogin shot her the strangest look, one of confusion, disbelief, and the general 'what do you mean 'he's' a she?'. Kurapika sighed. " _What the heck did you do this time?"_

"Wait," Uvogin stated, clearly wanting an explanation. "A _teenage girl_ just threatened to cas-"

"Boku no Pico."

Uvogin shut up.

' _Wowww, pulling out the big guns, aren't we?'_

"I don't even want to know." Kurapika openly stated, familiar with my eccentric nature. "Danzollne should be here any moment to question him." He continued, gesturing towards the Troupe member. "I want to talk to him first though." The Kurta finished, narrowing his eyes.

"Go ahead. It's not like he can escape. " I said, recalling Uvogin's futile attempts to escape his bonds when I forced him to watch Dragonball: Evolution. "Take over my shift while you're at it,

-Line-

Around two hours after Kurapika had taken over my shift, an unknown number appeared on my phone.

"Hello?" I said, picking up the call. I normally didn't carry a phone around since Yuki could relay information, but I now had non-Kaiko allies.

"This is Kurapika. Is this Tricia?"

"Yes?" I responded, rather confused about how he had got my number. Though, when I thought about it, it was possible that he had asked Dalzonlle for my contact info.

"Could you get a shovel for me? I'll pay you back later." Wait. What?

"Okay?..." I responded, both confused and unsure if I had heard that correctly. "What do you need it for?"

"To bury a dead body. Please get a smaller one that I can carry in a fight." So he was fighting someone, and then burying their dead body? Why not just throw it into a body of water?

(Somewhere, over the rainbow, Okami suddenly has an overwhelming sense of deja vu.)

"And you call the Ryoshi strange…" I muttered under my breath, facepalming. "Who are you burying?"

"Uvogin." Somewhere, Yuki spit out a non-existent drink.

"So," I began, "You're going to fight Uvogin, and you're so confident in your victory that you bring a shovel to bury your opponent."

"Yes." I sighed. Not even Kelsi could say 'yes' to that with such confidence. Actually, she could, being as powerful as she is.

"Okay, I'll get it as soon as possible. See you later."

"Bye." He finished, hanging up.

-Line-

"Here's your shovel," I said, handing the item to the Kurta. It had been surprisingly hard to find, even more difficult than a decent blood-remover. Cold water and soaking could only bring you so far.

"Thanks." He responded, giving me the money for the shovel. "I'll be back in a few hours."

"Got it," I replied with a sigh, already coming up with an excuse for his absence. Currently, the Council would have the Troupe under control, so I doubt anyone would be able to interrupt Kurapika's fight with Uvogin. Based on what I've seen, Kurapika would be fine against an Enhancer.

"Tricia?" A familiar voice called. I immediately glanced to the source of the voice, eyes slightly widening at the person's sudden appearance.

"Gon and Killua?"

-Line-

 **EARLY UPDATE 'CAUSE I GET A CUP NOODLE WHEN I FINISH THIS CHAP.**

 **I was way too lazy to figure out how to spell the head bodyguard's name, so here are all the different ways I spelled 'Danzoolele':**

Danzollne

Danzolle

Dalzonlle

Dalzollene (correct)

 **CUP NOODLE HERE I COME**

 **Note: I do not own Bad Apple, which was the song Cheriko was singing while she killed Hisoka. I used the English translation because 1) it loses the purpose of making the scene 'creepier' if you can't understand what she's saying (she could be singing the opening of Barakamon since not everybody memorizes the lyrics, most people only recognize the tune) and 2) the remix of Bad Apple on Spotify is awesome.**

 **Okami Otoko**

 **Alias: ?**

 **Age: 24 (Looks 13/12)**

 **Birthday: February 10**

 **Height: 5' 4"**

 **Weight: 48.5 kg (107 lb)**

 **Blood type: O**

 **Nen Type: Conjurer**

 **Description: Messy longish black hair with silver/gray tips and gold eyes. Always seen holding a gaming console and eating some sort of candy**

 **Hatsu: Teleportation/Nen created space**

 **Skills: Unknown**

 **Occupation: Game Addict**

 **Weapon of Choice: None**

 **Relationships (the ones known/mentioned):**

 **Phantom Troupe - Unknown (Alive)**

 **Some other people - Unknown (Alive)**

 **Other:**

 **Phantom Troupe member - Some protection and other benefits from other members, has to help Chrollo out with whatever he wants in return. Also gets information on some black market information. Will be targeted by Kurapika and Kaikos if his identity is revealed though.**

 **Unknown - ?**

 **GUESS WHAT**

 **Ok I had the idea that Okami's birthday would be on Chinese New year (one of the full moons) I made up his actual age on the fly and then began searching up what date Chinese New Year was on in 1994.**

 **OKAMI'S CHINESE ZODIAC IS DOG I'M DYING.**

 **^^^If you don't get this bit of foreshadowing, come back in a few chapters.**


	16. An Interesting Development

"Gon and Killua?" I thought out loud as I saw the two boys run up to me.

"I didn't think I'd see you here?: Gon exclaimed, excited to run into me. "Killua, Leorio, and I are searching for the Phantom troupe." I looked around, not seeing Leorio.

"Wait up!" Speak of the devil. Seconds later, the man came into view, panting and red-faced. "Hawk-san?" He noticed rather slowly, expression slowly morphing into recognition.

"Leorio!" Gon chirped, completely exhausted despite having run the same distance as the doctor in training.

"Her name is actually Tricia, not Hawk. She hid her identity during the Hunter Exam."

"Wait…" The 'teenager' responded, slowly catching his breath, then going into the 'You're a girl?' reaction that I was all too familiar with.

I would have been lying if I said that I didn't enjoy Leorio going into a mental exstintancal crisis.

"WhatdoyoumeanIspenttwodaysaloneinthewoodswithjustKurapikaandaseventeenyearold-"

"Sixteen" I corrected.

"Sixteenyearoldigirlohgodthatisn'tevencountingthosethreedaysinthetower-"

"No." I stated rather firmly, eye twitching.

"Huh?" Leorio said, breaking his existential-crisis monologue. I sighed, taking out my notebook hidden god-knows-where and flipping to a page Yuki had written (forced Alice to write) for me.

"I am not the daughter of a rich businessman, CEO, famous killer, assassin, infamous bounty hunter, well-known family nor am I in possession of a large sum of money or inheritance; large sum is defined as anything over 5 hundred thousand jenny." Yuki was very amused at Leorio's very confused expression. "I am not emo, edgy, tsundere, or any stupid anime girl trope, including the 'assassin', 'daddy/mommy issues', 'orphan', and 'runaway'. I am not lost on the past of life nor am I revenge driven idiot in need of a reality check; as that would be Kurapika. Neither am I not a famous figure in disguise or a childhood friend. I do not recall killing any of your friends/family unless they were serial killers. And-" I gasped for air, "if you are thinking any remotely lewd thoughts, congratulations, you have been diagnosed with pedophilia and should wallow at the very bottom of human society with Boku no Pico."

As soon as I flipped the notebook closed and stored it somewhere over the rainbow, I was greeted with three very confused boys and man.

"What even…" Killua started.

"I think I covered about just every cliche concerning my current predicament." I responded, hardly answering the assassin's questions, "If there are any misunderstanding, please refer to the rant three paragraphs back."

"..."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I want to catch the Magic and Mythics tournament semifinals which starts in 3 minutes. "

 **-Line-**

 **The Next Day**

"Neon passed out?" I inquired. It had been one day since I had ran into Gon, Killua, and Leorio. Since then, I had informed Kurapika of the trio's appearance, consoled a defeated Yuki, and won 50000 jenny in bets.

"Yes." Kurapika replied. Somewhere over the rainbow, I had a feeling of… impatience? Almost as if I didn't know what to say or do next, with some kind of invisible figment of my imagination staring over my back. It might have to do with the 'fourth wall' thing. "I have to go, it might be linked to the Phantom Troupe."

"Huh…" I drawled. I also had another feeling, almost as if I was being purposely left out of major events. Despite the high tension of the Auction and the Phantom Troupe, I had spent most of my days napping on duty and listening to fan theory podcasts. Not something that was nearly interesting or engaging.

Maybe it has to do with the frequent PoV switches?

 **-Line-**

 **Cheriko's PoV**

"Want me to stop them?" The pinkette offered, cocking her head to the side and playing with a lock of her hair. According to the murderess, the Phantom Troupe was going to launch a raid on the Yorknew Auction house, and the Ten Dons were hiring Zeno and Silva Zoldyck to stop them. After taking care of Hisoka, one of the nastier Troupe members, Cheriko was looking for blood. And tonight, the auction house would be a bloodbath.

"No." Hikaoki replied rather exasperated. The younger girl pouted, fidgeting with her hair. Cheriko knew that Hikaoki knew her capabilities; she would be more than qualified to take out a few members. "If we kill their current members, they'll just replace them. We may as well let the current ones live so we have the advantage of knowing their abilities."

"So annoying~..." Cheriko responded, pouting. It had been ages since she had made a body go _katsu_ like she did with Hisoka. Such little bloodshed wasn't nearly enough to quench her thirst. Besides, the weird clown was smiling. _Always_ smiling that _creepy little smile_ of his. She wanted to see the terror on their faces and hear the cries of fear and agony as each one of them went _katsu_ , coating the floor and walls and everything with that lovely shade of scarlet _red_.

 _I want to do that again._ The pinkette thought idly, the thought quickly solidifying into a desire. A desire to forget about everything and recreate those days with Saso-nii and Deichii-ne.

Out out of sheer habit, the murderess reached up to her necklace, a white and red ring with the kanji for 'scarlet' inscribed on the top strung on a metal chain, and began fidgeting with the accessory.

 _I miss my family…._

 **-Line-**

 **Okami's PoV**

"That's quite an interesting ability you've got there." The boy commented, looking over to the Troupe leader. Chrollo had just come back from the Nostrade hotel with a fresh new ability. He had stolen Neon Nostrade fortune-telling and had just finished explaining the gist of said ability. It would be quite interesting to see what his fortune would read. "Could you do mine?"

"Yes." Chrollo replied, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen. "I need your full name, blood type, and birthday."

"Okami Otoko, O positive, February 10." Once the raven-haired leader had finished writing down his information, he slipped into a dream-like trance, a weird ghost-like figure guiding his hand. The gamer looked upon this scene with interest, observing how the ghost's writing still appeared to be Chrollo's own handwriting.

"Here." He said once he snapped back into reality, handing the piece of paper to the 'teenage' boy. Okami skimmed the page, eyes only revealing mild surprise.

 **Your silent army moves with the night.**

 **Bringing death upon the hunters of shadow.**

 **The traveler lays ruin to a castle of lies.**

 **Do not trust the life bringer.**

"Huh." He shrugged, opening a portal to put the piece of paper in. Interesting, to say the least. The first two lines made sense to him, but he was completely lost on the last two. The traveler might make an appearance later on, and so might the life bringer. As matters stood now, the last two lines would happen at the end of the month, with the first line already occurring. He would have plenty of time to investigate the 'traveler' and the 'life-bringer'. Since there was a warning, it was already decided that he was going to die on the last week of September.

"About the raid tonight," Chrollo began, the fortunes of the other Phantom Troupe members, "We will need to fake all of out deaths instead of five. The Ryoshi know that we have thirteen members, therefore they would continue to restrict our movements. But, we will not fake Okami's death for strategic reasons."

 _Hm._ Well, that made things easier. By faking all of their deaths except for his, he was giving away every Spider's appearance. With that big of a lead, Fox would have no problem hunting the rest of the members down. Even the Kaikos couldn't take on the entire Phantom Troupe without sustaining a few casualties or allowing their secret to be revealed, weakening them as much as possible.

On the other hand, they would know that there was a fourteenth member, but keeping his appearance and majority of his ability unknown would make it difficult for Takuya and the Council to get a lead on his true identity.

Now, all of the pieces were in place. The game was only beginning, and he had made his first move.

 _How will you respond, my prey?_

 **-Line-**

 **Later that night**

 **Cheriko's PoV**

Alarms sounds, guards exploded mid-scream, coating everything in that lovely shade of scarlet blood-red hue that Cheriko was so fond of.

"Kuro. Shiro." The murderess called with a sweep of her hands, summoning two twin girls, one with black hair that covered her right eye one and the other with white hair that covered her left. Both of them wielded chipped katanas with the handle loosely wrapped with blood-stained bandages.

Cheriko smiled the second she saw them, instantly recalling the fight that she had fought to obtain the two corpses. The murderess remembering the long and difficult fight against the twins that she would later reanimate as her dolls.

Yes. The pinkette recalled with a giggle. The two renowned sword-wielding twins, now my dolls to play with.

She exploded into maniac glee as her two dolls ripped through the peasants with their swords, each corpse's explosion further deepening the beautiful, beautiful shade of scarlet red.

"You can tell me what to say, you can tell me where to go." Cheriko proceeded up the stairs leading up to the final room. One step. Two.

"But I doubt that I would care, and my heart would never know." Kuro and Shiro followed her obediently, blank and empty eyes staring into the abyss.

"If I make another move, there'd be no more turning back." The scarlet blood gathered at her call, forming abnormal shapes and sphere around her. Blue eyes fixed on the cage where her prey resided, panicking at the screams and gunshots downstairs.

"Because everything would change and all will fade to black." Cheriko stopped in front of the door, having reached her final destination. A smile crept up her face, and she flung open the door.

 _Look, Nii-chan! Do you see me?_

The Ten Dons sat wide-eyed and scared as the blood-soaked murderess entered the scene.

 _Look at me!_

Kuro and Shiro charged in, disemboweling and dismembering the living corpses.

 _Do you see all this lovely red?_

The scarlet behind her response to her call, joining the carriage the unfolded in front of her.

 _Don't you see me? Nii-chan?_

 _Don't you?_

 **-Line-**

 **The next day**

 **Tricia's PoV**

 _'Last night, the Auction house was raided.'_ Yuki began with the grim news, _'Thirteen Phantom Troupe members' bodies were found at the site. The fourteenth is nowhere to be found.'_

 _'Cheriko killed the Ten Dons too, didn't she?'_ I recalled, remembering the news from last night.

 _'Yeah,'_ Yuki shuddered, remembering the pictures of the bloody scene. Each of the corpses were drained of blood and either dismembered, hardly recognizable, or turned into a pulp. _'I saw the pictures. That yangire makes Yuno look like a docile kitty.'_

 _'Wait, someone's coming.'_ I quickly turned to look behind me. "Kurapika?" I called out, reconizing the blonde in the distance

I narrowed my eyes to get a clearer picture of the figure running towards this direction. Kurapika came up to me with a solemn expression. "I have news regarding the Phantom Troupe."

I looked about to make sure no one was listening, flashing the place with En. "What is it? Is it about their hideout?"

"No, I'm afraid it's about Gon and Killua. The Phantom Troupe has taken them into custody. But here's the thing, I have a plan, and I require your assistance in order to execute it."

 **-Line-**

 **Two minutes before 7:00 pm**

The plan was the following: Cut the power at 7 pm sharp, let Gon Killua free themselves and capture Chrollo while we're at it.

"Do you really think that this is going to work? I muttered to Kurapika. Eight years of bounty hunting told me that plan usually never worked out. Especially if they were made by a newbie who was dealing with S-class criminals. To be completely honest. Kurapika's chances were pretty grim. Chrollo could have all sorts of countermeasures in place, Gon and Killua might not be able to get free before the Troupe got a hold on their bearings.

"Yes." Kurapika replied with absolute confidence. "I'm positive."

"Whatever you say…" I said back with an air of sarcasm. the blonde had been freakishly lucky so far with matters concerning the Phantom Troupe. Uvogin could have told the rest of the Troupe what he looked like, Uvogin might not have gone alone, etcetera.

One minute left. I tightened my hold on the power box switch.

40 seconds. I braced myself to make the run.

30 seconds.

20\. I prepared the illusion to make the two (three) of us disappear.

10….

5….

Zero.

The moment I hit the switch, a very confused and surprised Chrollo appeared next to me. In that same second, I muted the three of us to the other members and concealed Kurapika's nen.

Within minutes, all three of us were in a waiting car and subjected to the chain user's distracted driving.

 **-Line-**

 **30-ish minutes later.**

"We've got a deal." Kurapika announced as he put down the phone. "Midnight at the airport. We're going to the exchange there. I'm supposed to go alone, but I'd prefer if you could observe the exchange from 100m away.

"Okay." I decided, somewhat surprised that he had remembered my range from the Auction house. "When's the meeting?"

"In 30 minutes." I stopped dead in my tracks. The airport was at least 35 minutes away by car.

"...You're joking, right?" I inquired tentatively.

"No."

I internally swore as I opened the window. Kurapika wasn't even fazed when I closed it behind me, knowing that we were on the fifth floor.

Heck, he didn't even bat an eye when he saw both cars parked in the driveway while I was nowhere to be seen.

Sometimes, I feel as though Kurapika is the very embodiment of human adaptability.

On the other hand, I may have underestimated how high five floors was.

 **-Line-**

 **35 Minutes Later**

After far as exchanges went, this one went surprisingly smoothly. Pakunoda did come by herself, and they were able to trade their captives. I was pretty sure Pakunoda didn't notice my En hovering around the place; I had used a quick In to hide it.

My phone rang, and I picked it up.

"It's done." Kurapika announced, once Pakunoda was out of earshot.

"Yeah, I saw." I replied. "I'll see you at the Hotel?"

"Yes, in-"

 _'DOWN!'_

I hit the floor as soon as I heard Yuki, mind racing as soon as the explosion occurred right next to me.

A familiar presence.

A familiar _sickening_ presence.

In that moment, I knew that I was seriously screwed.

-Line-

 **AN**

 **If you paid attention to the first paragraph of the first timeskip. Yes. Tricia bet the equivalent of 500 dollars against Yuki.**

 **I want to do other profile, since they add an extra 200-ish words to a chapter, which is definitely nice. But I can't think of anyone else to do, unless I want to pull some other character into this like Kelsi.**

 **I'm also posting a bit earlier because I can, and because I had an extra week to type this. Notice that this chapter is unusually long.**

 ***bows* Thank you very much, Kashiko Rivatyl. For putting up with me, my spelling, and writing that one scene for me.**


	17. Another Interesting Development

**This chapter will be a bit loose in terms of character PoV. Imma call it Aisel's PoV**

-Line-

 **Aisel's PoV**

 _Crap,_ Tricia thought the second she spotted a wall of crystals next to her. In the heat of the moment, she had used her old Hatsu. The one that she had had as a conjurer. The simple wall had taken almost half of her nen.

Half.

With half, she couldn't use God's Reign without rendering herself helpless afterwards.

' _Yuki!'_ Tricia exclaimed, eyeing the settling debris. It wouldn't be long before she would have to engage. ' _How long before someone gets here?'_

' _At least 20 minutes,'_ The swordswoman pursed her lips. There was no way she could hold off this opponent for 10 minutes, let alone 20. Tricia's best chance would be contacting Kurapika by enhancing Yuki's telepathic connection via Karima's ability.

' _We're going to have to contact Kurapika.'_ She finalized. There was no way that Tricia could risk something like a phone call in her situation. Hesitantly, the Kaiko activated Devil's Advocate, which had taken the shape of a metal wristband. Best case scenario, she might be able to pass off the telepathic connect as a co-worker's ability. Worst case scenario, Kurapika would recognize the telepathic connections as draiknor's doing, which was very possible considering the information the werewolves had released about them.

' _Kurapika. This is Tricia.'_ She could practically _feel_ his confusion through the connection. ' _This is a co-worker's ability. I need you to come over right now by yourself.'_

' _What happened?'_ The blond responded, gathering himself from his confusion and shock. The dust was almost gone now, any minute and she would have to fight.

' _I got ambushed by an old… enemy of ours. There aren't any Ryoshi nearby.'_

' _Okay, I'll be there-'_ The connection was abruptly broke. My bracelet disintegrated shortly after.

"Well, If it isn't Tricia-chan." He drawled, stepping out of the shadows. The man's face twisted into something more feral, resembling a wolf of sorts. The Kaiko could see wolf ears and a tail, along with claws.

"Maktsia," Tricia said, drawing her blade. She would need every bit of help she could get in this fight, meaning that she would have to stall. Stall for enough time for Kurapika to come. Stall so she could escape back to safety

"Where's your little sister?" He said, voice dripping with fake concern, obviously tricking her to jump the gun. "She's dead, isn't she? Buried under the rubble from the explosion. _Buried because you couldn't protect her."_

Tricia knew it, and she knew that he knew it too.

She _knew._ She'd seen dozens of others fall the same way, falling prey to the same bait the wolves dangled in front of the mice.

She knew, didn't she?

If so, then why did she see herself running into the open jaws of the wolf?

 **Hook.**

Then,

Then why did it hurt so much?

 **Line.**

Why? Why didn't the pain stop? Why couldn't she do anything? Why was she so weak?

Why

Why was she always so useless?

" _Tricia-nee!" The blue-eyed Kaiko called out, "Rina's been captured!"_

" _Huh?" She responded, turning to the panting figure._

" _We've got to save her, Kelsi just gave us permission." The younger twin stated, "Killuko's coming along as well."_

" _Shouldn't we take someone else? Maybe Onee-san?" Tricia knew she wasn't strong, only escaping tricky situations with her head and strategy. At least, not nearly as strong as Killuko or Sakrirs, who didn't slack off on training as she did._

" _It's fine!" Sakiris responded, grinning brightly, "The three of us are plenty strong,"_

" _right?"_

 **And sinker.**

And at that moment, all plans of escape were gone.

" _Go without me!" Killuko called back to them, sending wave after wave of lighting and ice to slow down their werewolf pursers. "You have to save Rina!"_

Tricia remembered that moment, left in the dust by her own sisters, her own friend.

She remembered herself, unable to shield Sakiris or Rina during Maktsia's explosion.

" _Sakiris!" She called out, the debris and dust clearing. Tricia deactivated her crystal dome, a sinking feeling in her gut. "Rina!"_

She remembered that day, robbing the Kaiko's best scout of her vision.

" _Tricia?" A figure called back weakly. Rina's voice._

" _Rina!" Tricia rushed towards the younger girl. Upon inspection, the raven-haired to-be sensor had not escaped unscathed. Rina had been able to conjuror a wall to shield herself from most of the damage but had still been hit by some of the shrapnel. "Are you okay?"_

" _...No?" The Hoshiko replied shakily, sinking to her feet and clutching her bleeding eyes. "I think some of the stuff flew into my eyes." Rina gulped, not wanting to face the truth, "I'm going to be blind."_

She remembered her twin sister, crushed under the rubble.

" _Sakiris?..." Tricia called out weakly, truth dawning on her. She stood up frantically looking around, searching for something, anything that assured her that her sister was alive._

 _And then she saw it._

"Sixth Summon: Kenshi." Tricia stated in a deathly quiet whisper, eyes darkening in contrast to the white light that shrouded her blade. Matkisia narrowed his eyes. Last time he had seen her, she had used crystals.

"A new Hatsu, huh?" The werewolf scoffed, arms glowing to life. "You're not the only one who's improved."

With that, Tricia charged in, activating Timelapse slipping into a state of En. Anything he touched with his arms would explode, but he wouldn't be looking forward to the discovering the full capabilities of Kenshi.

As soon as the Kaiko lunged at him, Maktsia _felt_ the searing heat that emitted from the sword. The blade would no doubt burn him the moment he touched it.

This all made the werewolf's face twist into a feral grin. This excitement, this amusement, he hadn't felt this in a long, long time.

He was the hunter, and she was the prey.

Tricia was strong, but Maktsia was stronger.

And with that, the werewolf's outstretched claws glowed a color akin to lava, forcing the Kaiko into a defensive position.

Then, the world around him shimmered, and suddenly her blade hovered over his heart.

"What the…" Maktsia muttered as he twisted out of the blade's reach. A time-bending ability?

The world shimmered and shifted once more.

"...heck?" It took a second for the wolf to register the pain, but once he did, his left hand was on the ground. Only a mess of flesh and bone remained of his wrist.

"Damned Kaiko." He hissed under his breath, adrenaline pushing the pain back to a throb. "I'll get you back for that." The wolf continued, rage boiling and spilling over in the heat of the battle.

The world did not shimmer as Maktsia lunged at the teenage girl, her eyes widening at his sudden boost of speed.

The world did not shift when he raked his red-hot claws against her left arm, raised in an attempt to protect her face.

Because he was angry, and a mouse does not stand a chance against a rabid wolf.

So angry, that he didn't notice how that same hand wandered to the folds of her cloak and pulled out a second sword.

In that instant, the katana _glowed_ as light filled his vision and a flaming wakizashi dug into his side causing everything to turn a shade of _redredred_ while his good hand lashed out to the hilt of the blade.

The light stopped.

A blade clattered to the floor.

-Line-

 **Tricia's PoV**

"Ketsueki." I said as my wakizashi burst into flames, fueled with my blood.

The rest was clockwork, sword digging into his side.

What I was not expecting was the burning pain on my wrist.

In the chaos, I dropped the blade, ending the stab prematurely. Maktsia lunged for his detached hand, planning to reattach it using Kaiko's blood.

I had lost this battle, that much was clear.

Maktsia was almost full in nen capacity, wheres I only had 10% left. Kurapika wouldn't be much use either, the chain user lacking in both experience and power.

The werewolf grimaced as he refitted his left hand, then pouring a silvery-red substance on the wound. Within seconds, his hand began to heal.

I was already beginning to feel the drawbacks of my own healing. It wouldn't be long before I collapsed from the exhaustion that came with Kaiko's blood.

The last I remembered were two figures breaking into the clearing.

-Line-

 **Katsu's PoV**

 **(Muahaha I bet you weren't expecting this.)**

When Katsu first broke into the clearing, there were a few things that he realized.

One, Matksia was injured. Good, since that nasty fellow had a habit of ripping his chest open right after he'd spend five hours sewing it back together.

Two, He may or may not have accidently put said werewolf into cardiac arrest within milliseconds of his arrival. Good for him, minus one nasty patient to treat.

Three, _Was that Kurapika?_

"Oh crap." Katsu said upon seeing the other Kurta whom he thought to be Kurapika. The other person in the clearing seemed to be around his age, at least.

Kurapika narrowed his red eyes, readying his Hatsu as he prepared to fight him. It was then that Katsu remembered that he was wearing the same uniform as Maktsia.

It wouldn't be easy for him to convince the blond into trusting him.

"I'm with the Kaikos." The healer stated truthfully, keeping his hands in the air, "Erm, I accidently put Matksia into cardiac arrest as a gesture of…" _DAMN IT ME, WHAT THE HELL AM I EVEN SAYING, "..._ goodwill?"

Kurapika glanced at the limp werewolf and then back at Katsu, rather confused if anything.

"Er.. I'm a spy." He continued, rambling, "Kelsi sent me to infiltrate three years ago. I assume you're a friend of the Kaiko behind you?"

The other Kurta's eyes narrowed even further, as Tricia had never mentioned Kaikos to him.

 _I really don't want to say this, but it doesn't look like he's about to lower his hand anytime soon…_ Katsu internally cringed before he began. "Does your name happen to be Kurapika? Kurapika Kurta?"

"So what if it is?" The avenger followed, now very suspicious of Katsu.

"Well… I'm Katsu Kurta." The healer stated, forcing his eyes to turn red to prove his identity. Kurapika's hand lowered, his eyes flickering back to grey. "I left the clan twelve years ago. If you are Kurapika, then I would be your older brother by five years."

"I wasn't aware that the Kaikos are still alive." Oh, so Kelsi pulled some kind of double front trick. That did sound like something that she would do.

"Well your unconcious friend behind you is living proof, along with Takuya who will be arriving in 15 minutes."

Kurapika glanced to the figure behind him, eyes widening when he saw the silvery-red blood coating his friend's left arm.

"Fine," His younger brother said, Katsu sighing in relief, "I believe you." The healer then began with setting Maktsia's body on fire to conceal the fact that he had died of cardiac arrest, ignoring the rather perplexed looks from his younger brother.

"Your friend should be fine in a few hours; Kaiko's blood has a nasty habit of knocking the users uncouncies whenever they overuse nen while injured. Just leave her to Takuya and nobody besides us will know this has ever happened." The healer explained to the younger Kurta. "I'll be coming along as well, since there's still some stuff I have to clear with Kelsi before I head back to the werewolf HQ."

There was limitations on his method of communitcation, and there were some very interesting devlopments concerning Okami.

-Line-

 **Okay, I've been putting this off for almost two days already. I've had this done since the 25th but wanted to add a short scene that was 100-200ish words.**

 **Welp, you know how that went.**

 **Said scene will be tagged on at the beginning of the next chappie so extra long update next bi-week.**

 **Whalala…. I really an just rambling now. The canon Yorknew arc just ended but there is one sub-plot that will be tied up and finished next chapter.**

 **I hate long AN's where the author just thanks the reader and the beta'r for three paragraghs so bye.**

 **(Thank you for saving my life, Kashiko.)**


	18. RIP, Remnants of the 4th Wall

**Rina's PoV**

' _...You think Tricia's going to be okay?'_ Yuki said rather nervously, gnawing on one of Lennex's Snickers that the draiknor had swiped earlier.

"She will be." Rina responded, half to convince Yuki and the other to convince her growing sense of unease. Something told her that the bounty hunter was outclassed by Maktsia. It was the same feeling when Tricia and Sakiris had told her that they had left Killuko behind to fend off the werewolves, all those years ago. "She's worked hard over the summer developing the seven swords."

' _I hope she's fine…'_ The draiknor mumbled, clearly upset that there was nothing Yuki could do except not interrupt their fight. ' _I don't want to lose Tricia too…'_

"Yeah," Rina grimamed. Everytime a Soul link was broken by death, the remaining member's soul and nen captiry would be ripped in half. That was the main reason why many of the Kaiko's didn't want or have draiknors; the risk that came with it was far to great.

If Tricia were to die, Yuki's souls would he ripped in half again, leaving her with only one fourth of a normal soul.

In her revere, two family presences appeared at the edge of her nen-sesine range.

 _The Phantom Troupe members?_ Rina though, matching their nen to the presences Luna had fought not too long ago. _No doubt about it, it's them._

"Yuki, I have to go." The blind sensor decided, getting up and heading out the door.

' _Hm?'_

There's something i have to take care of before it causes too much of a problem."

most of the stronger Kaikos were scouting their section of town. She had been instructed to keep an eye on this area but only call for help if she ran into a werewolf or someone who couldn't escape from.

Rina had already seen their Hatsus before, and she wasn't useless in battle either.

' _Okay, stay safe.'_

"Got it."

-Line-

Rina didn't think that they would notice her. Not even kelsi could see past her Zetsu.

"Abyssal Prison!" Both young voices coursed in sync.

Being a sensor, Rina saw their nen gather in the ground between her, slowing the teenager to safely evade the attack an activate a 15 meter En.

Nen would be the deciding factor for her in this fight. once she was out, she would be blind to most of her surroundings and any physical attacks.

Rina pulled out a spool of wire and conjured throwing daggers coated with her own blend of poison. Once the sensor was given enough time to ready her weapons, the battle was on.

Several of the senro's knives whizzed past the twins, leaving a limp traval of wire behind.

 _The fire one._ Rina decided, _he'll be able to melt the wires and burn the poison. I should take him out first._

The blind sensor weaved around the dou's attacks, careful to not let the strings of wire burn up in the flames of the red-head. They were good nen users, able to work together flawlessly without a hitch. The water user was the support and defense, providing a place for the greek fire to burn. The fire user was quickly and offensive, the lead of many of their combos.

In the mist of their battle, many knives were thrown and limps wires entangled. Rina attempted to stop their movements with the poison beforehand, but the water user's circle of defense was to strong. She could summon wall and pillars to ruin their defense, bu then she would run the risk of burning throat to much nen.

once it became clear that RIna could no longer proceed to protect the wires from the heat, she yanked all 20 of them back, tightening the once-limp wire into an intricate wire trap.

A trap with a younge fire user trapped inside.

The pierced through his skin, allowing the poison on the wire to run through his body, effectively paralyzing him.

"Kasai!" The other twin called to him in both shock and panic. _Wait…_

The world slowed around her.

 _Kasai…_

 _As in… Hikari and Kasai Hoshiko? Don't tell me,_

Rina paled as the truth dawned upon her, briefly recalling Luna's description of the two.

" _Two twins or clones, around the age of 11 or 12. One with red hair and the other with blue."_

"Hikari?" the blind nen-user called out shakily. The water user spun around, surprised and confused on how their attacker had known her name. "Are you Hikari Hoshiko?" Rina asked, deconjouring the wire and poison in Kasai's blood stream. If they really were Hikari and Kasia, then she had just found her younger siblings.

"How do you know our names?" Hikari almost demanded, suspicious about Rina but was beginning to trust her due to Kasai's release.

"my name is Rina Hoshiko." both twins looked up to her in unblinking shock. "I'm both blind a sensor. If memory serves me right, then you would be my younger siblings."

"Rina?... Onee-san?" Both said in disbelief and in sync. "you're not dead…?"\

"Yes,' The older hoshiko replied, happy that she had finally achieved her goal, "I've been looking for you two."

Both twins glanced at each other, seemingly conversing solely by eye contact.

"Chrollo said that you were with the Ryoshi, is that ture?" Rina nodded, the younger tow making up their mind the moment they saw her response. "Are the Phantom Troupe in you way/"

 _Where exactly were they taking this?..._ "They were-"

"the we'll take care of them." Both responded, nodding affirmatively. "We can kill everyone except for Shizuku, Feitan, Okami and Chrollo."

"Okami?..." Rina inquired, eyes narrowing. Had the leader of the werewolves joined the Phantom Troupe?

"He's a new recruit," both twins choursed. "His ability deals with realms." Ah, so he was the new recruit that made Hikari and Kasai disappear during their first fight. "Chrollo was captured a while back and Pakunoda went to retrieve him. In the meantime, we can kill the remaining members."

."You're actually going to kill them?" Rina said in disbelief. Were Hikari and Kasai so trusting to betray their group just because their long-lost sister showed up?

"We've already been thinking about it for a while." The twins retired, "Is it possible for us to join the Ryoshi after we're finished?"

"I'll have to talk to a few people, but i think it can be done.: The sensor explained, already thinking of several wat for Kelsi to accept them. They'd probably have to go through an interrogation by Lennex, but she didn't think there would be too much of a problem since they had only been in the Troupe for a couple of months.

"We'll be going now." Both of the twins choursed, dismissing themselves. "We'll be back in 2 hours."

 **Tricia's PoV**

I later woke up in hotel room with more than a few questions.

"'Morning sleeping beauty." A tired voice drawled from the other side of the room. "Do you even know about the crap storm you caused?"

"Yes." I responded, matching the other person's tone, "I do happen to have an idea of a situation's degree that would require for you to interfere, Katsu."

"On point." Katsu mused, rather interested in how I knew his identity. "Your boyfriend was rather worried about your situation as well."

"Hm?" I replied, raising an eyebrow, "Did he declare his eternal love for me while I was unconscious?"

"Naw."

"Though so." I finished, proceeding to tackle a larger problem, "What course of action did Kelsi decide on?"

"Full withdrawal to the realm as of midnight, excluding Takuya, Hikaoki, Luna, and any Kaiko associates. Those three will be busy intel-gathering and are more than capable of taking care of a few stray werewolves."

"I see." I sighed, this would most likely be the start of another war.

"Is Kurapika trustworthy of this knowledge?" Katsu said, cutting to the chase. Similarly to Kurapika, his Kurta eyes allowed him to access special abilities. While he would not become omnipotent like his younger brother, the ability of mind manipulation was terrifying in its own right.

"Yes. There are two other that vaguely know of the situation as well." I explained. Gon and Killua would definitely demand for some kind of explanation. "Speaking of Kurapika, where is he right now?"

"In the next room over." The healer responded. gesturing to a door. "He collapsed due to nen overuse shortly after we arrived. Turns out my idiot brother decided that Kurta eyes were some kind of hack meant to be exploited at every given chance."

"Huh." That explained a lot, especially Kurapika confidence when he challenged Uvogin to a fight. "Anyways-"

"KURAPIKA! HAW-TRICIA!" A voice sounded out from a two figures that burst into the room, causing both of us to freeze like a deer in headlights. "Are you okay-WHO'S THE CREEPY LOOKING PERSON?!"

"The 'creepy looking person' has a name. That name is Katsu." Katsu scoffed at the two boys that had just barreled into the room.

"We got a message." Killua explained out of breath, pulling out Leorio's phone and turning it to show us the message. "It said, 'Hawk and Kurapika are at 4 Victor Ave room 18' from Kurapika's cell. HOW WERE WE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE WORRIED?!"

I turned to Katsu. "What the heck is up with that ominous message?"

The healer shrugged, "I just messaged the person Kurapika was in contact the most with," I raised an eyebrow, "Aka the person with the most missed calls."

"Who are you?" Gon asked, now that the situation had been mostly sorted out.

"I'm a colleague of Tricia's who happened to be in the area when she was attacked." Katsu explained, giving a very (understandably) watered down version of the story. "She passed out from nen overuse in the fight and Kurapika collapse a little bit after from overusing his eyes." Both boys noticeably stiffened when Katsu mentioned Kurapika's ability.

"How did you know?" Killua asked with suspicion, wanting to know how this stranger knew about Kurapika's most guarded secret.

"I'm his older brother who also happens to have Kurta eyes. Don't ask, it's a long story." Both boys glanced at each other before settling for that response. Afterall, something as big as Kurapika not being the last survivor _was_ something that would require some kind of lengthy explanation.

"Then, what exactly happened?" Gon asked, "Tricia somehow contacted us out of the blue using some sort of nen ability and then Kurapika went to help her."

"Ah, that." I sighed. "Well, the Ryoshi has some enemies and one of them decided to ambush me while I was keeping an eye out for Kurapika. That caused some complications and ended up with Kurapika needing to assist me in the fight."

"Is that really it?" Killua inquired, still rather suspicious. It seemed as though years of assassi training had engraved some kind of sixth sense into him.

"Yeah," As much as I didn't want to lie to the two, both of them were simply to weak and inexperienced to deal with the entirety of the situation. Knowing Gon, he would try to interfere and help in someway, which would possibly lead to his death. After all, the two of them haven't even developed their own Hatsus yet. "I'll have to go back to HQ for a little bit to sort things out, but other than that, there's not too much to it."

Both Gon and Killua breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, Leorio should be here any minute-"

"YOU BASTARDS! STEALING MY PHONE LIKE THAT, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I SPENT ON THAT DEVICE?!" An argy voice called from beath us. Killua visably stiffened.

"Well, I gotta go, see ya later!" Kiillua said while dashing out the door.

 **-Line-**

 **Okaaay….**

 **I used up my five-day head start?**

 **Reasons** **Excuses** **include:**

 **HUGE 20+ HOUR PROJECT DUE ON THE 13**

 **Laziness**

 **French teSTS OMIGOD THERE'S A UNIT TEST TOMORROW?! WHAT'S AN INFINITIVE?! HOW DOES ONE CONJUGATE AVOIR?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN I WAS SUPPOSED TO USE ETRE?!**

 **Homework**

 **Special Edition Fourth Wall Destruction:**

-Line-

"Soo….." Katsu drawled, glancing at the unique cast of people in the strange looking space. "Anyone remember how they got here? No? Wonderful." As far he remembered, he had been heading back to the werewolf base before he had suddenly collapsed for no apparent reason. When he woke up, he had been greeted by the wonderful sight of several murderous criminals that were more than capable of killing him.

"Cheriko doesn't remember how she got here too!" The pinkette chirped with enthusiasm that suggested that she either had no idea of the situation they were in or didn't care. Katsu was more inclined to lean towards the latter. "Okami-chan doesn't either, riiight?"

"I guess so." His boss replied, attention drawn to the console in his hand. "Should I spend my ingots on Lucky draw or save up for Angel of God?"

"Nobody cares about your damned game." The dead Uvogin huffed, "And you still owe me 251 jenni."

"Hm?" Okami replied with a raised eyebrow, "Big words for a dead guy. Oi, you over there. Which one should I spend on?"

"And I'm supposed to know?" Takuya replied with a raised eyebrow. While the bounty hunter's assured him to some extent, the person next to him was a different story.

"I assume that was what he was thinking." Hikaoki stated, scythe in hand. To think that she was the older sister of the laid back Kaiko he had meet thirty minutes ago… genetics were something that he would never understand.

"So, why exactly are were here?" Lennex said, voicing the question that was on everyone's mind. "I can't imagine that someone would go through so much trouble to drag us very busy people to this place just to hang out."

" **Exactly."** A voice said from nowhere. A shadow figure appeared seemingly out of things air, causing a more than a few raised eyebrow and confuse remarks. " **Author had me drag you seven here for almost no reason."**

"You're kidding." The blonde Kaiko said, clearly trying to hide his amusement.

" **No,"** The figure sighed, a 'overworked and underpaid' sigh that Katsu was very familiar with. " **Author needed something to boost the word count and treat the readers so she dragged the six of you into this space she calls 'the void'."**

"Is there any particular reason why we six were chosen?" The half-Kurta bounty hunter asked.

" **Yes actually."** The figure replied, " **You six are the easiest characters for author to write, with one or two of you being her favorites. She didn't want to spend too much time on this so that's what she ended up doing. Author's also included some messages that she wishes to pass to the six of you as well."**

"Okay?..." Takuya stated, even more confused than before. A digital message suddenly appeared in front of the six of them, his own containing something, rather interesting.

 **Stay alive for the rest of the story or I will reincarnate you in a very painful way. You have been warned. Also, feel free to screw with whatever you want if things start to feel boring. Don't worry, you have enough plot armor to keep you from *most* of the consequences.**

 **P.S. Please hone in you memory-alter ability as much as possible so I can use it as a crutch for plot holes.**

"Okay?" Katsu responded very confused. As soon as he was finished, the message disappeared. Glancing around, he noticed, some _very_ interesting reactions. Namely Takuya's.

 **Do you wish to be convietant for the readers and view Takuya's message? Yes / Yes**

What the-

' **Yes' selected. Loading message.**

But he hadn't even chosen anything?

A message appeared in front of him.

 **Dear absolute cinnamon roll, take joy in knowing that you have the most plot armor in the entirely of Illusion because you are my favorite. Try to kill Kelsi, jump off a cliff, doesn't matter. You** _ **will**_ **live. I have already made you near invincible with your OP Hatsu and build. Now, you might be wondering, how did an irreverent character like *me* become the Author's favorite.**

 **Headcanons, cinnamon roll. Headcanons.**

 **I went through great lengths to make sure you and Hikaoki were of similar age and met early on, so make my ship sail.**

 **P.S. Okami relocates to a different base every two days. The order of locations he will be in is: Area 13, 15, 7, 3. 21, 11, 35, 27. His ability is not realm creation, but realm manipulation. Only a combination of you, Kelsi, and Tricia will be able to take him down with no casualties. DO NOT take Luna to the final fight or the rest of the Council WILL die.**

….

…

….

 _What_ in the world did he just read?!


	19. (Christmas Special)

-Chapter 19-

CHRISTMAS SPECIALALALALAL

HIGHSCHOOL AU IMMA SCREW ALL THEIR AGES UP. YUKI (AND SHIRO) ARE HUMAN GIRLS IN THIS AU

"Soooo…." Takuya drawled with a raised eyebrow, "Why exactly are we here again?"

"WINTER BREAK!" Yuki crudely explained, pumping a fist in the air. "CHRISTMAS!"

"It's almost Christmas so we have to celebrate by eating until 3 am. We don't have to go to school for the next couple of days as well because it's winter break." Sakiris translated.

"In other words, Yuki wants to piss off Kelsi by dragging every person she knows into her house and keeping them here for as long as possible." Tricia further explained/translated. "I have a project due right after the break so I will not be participating in any sort of social interaction."

"Everyone knows you're already done." Shiro huffed, Tricia freezing at her friend's voice, "I found your finished blueprints and designs on your flash drive."

Tricia stared at Shiro, both shocked and surprised at the albino's discovery. "How did you find that? I put that in a secret compartment."

Shiro explained by pulling out numerous meticulously detailed blueprints with Tricia's handwriting on them. "I found the blueprints for the secret compartment as well. I assume you commissioned someone else to make them for you."

Everyone else in the room wasn't even remotely fazed by this exchange, having already gotten plenty of exposure last year when Tricia was a freshman.

"I have a Science project due on the third." Tricia further lied in an attempt to hide from the outernet.

"We're in the same class. Try again."

"...ELA?"

"I don't see Sakiris working on anything."

Tricia sighed in defeat. "Fine…"

Looking around the room, it was clear that Yuki wasn't kidding when it came to pissing Kelsi off. The sort-of-albino (Yuki's hair was dyed a pale-but-vibrant blue) had invited everyone in their friend group and more. If Yuki's previous actions had proven anything, she most likely had Kelsi's credit card in hand.

"First stop is the supermarket. Kelsi's already got a hibachi table and hotpot so we only need to raid the meat and international sections now." Yuki began, already skipping to dinner plans despite it only being 12 pm. "Hikaoki can drive because she's a good driver and the only one with a clean record. Lennex can run downstairs to buy Snapple and bubble tea because I don't trust him in a car. As for people that go out… I CALL SHOTGUN." Yuki practically screamed as she made a mad dash out the door. A select few trailed after The teenager with significantly less enthusiasm.

Everyone else that remained shared a mutual "people who expend their energy, I salute you" glance and went to do their own thing. Fast forward because Author is running of ideas.

-Line-

"WE HAVE FOOD," Yuki exclaimed while swinging the bags onto the table. "WE FEAST TONIGHT. MA BUBBLE TEA IS WHERE."

Lennex practically chucked a red bean bubble tea at the teenager, who lunged at the drink with glowing red eyes. Yuki stabbed said drink with one of the straws she kept in her jacket-hoodie. "Much better."

Hikaoki collected the bags of food and dragged the numerous packages to the kitchen, Shiro and Sakiris trailing after her.

"One red bean bubble tea!" Alice exclaimed, not about to be seconded by Yuki. Lennex threw a second one at the pinkette with impressive accuracy, this time with a straw. Not everyone carried around straws in their hoodie. "Magic and Mythics, I call first remote."

"Second!" Yuki followed. "Winner gets to vers Takuya!" It was a commonly known fact that Takuya was one of the top players in Magic and Mythics, Kelsi beginning the best out of all of them. "Triciaaa, wanna play? There's still a free remote."

"Okay," The hazel-haired student replied, sliding into the free spot in front of the TV. "When's Killuko and Rina arriving?" The albino had befriended both of them a few years back at a flower shop, which was a different story for a different time. The former was the sole daughter of the Zoldycks, well known for being a very successful political family. Due to this, Killuko spent most of her time with tutors and varies classes, hardly leaving any time for herself. Rina just lived in a different city.

"Killuko's coming 6 to 8, Rina's coming with Hikari and Kasai at 5 since their parents are busy." Yuki replied, starting the round. "Let the games begin!"

-Line-

 **Later Aka 5 pm**

"Remember to text me every hour and call at eight thirty." A muffled voice said from the other side of the wall.

"Got it..." A teenage girl's voice drawled, clearly bored and tired out her mind.

"Make sure Hikari and Kasai don't eat too many sweets"

"Understood…"

"Don't pig out either! Auntie Kelsi doesn't have _that_ much money."

"Yuki has the credit card, but whatev-"

"THE TWINS!" Yuki cried, barreling out the door and tackling the 6th graders. "YOU GUYS ARE SO CUTE I SWEAR-" The albino suddenly stopped, remembering that there were parents in the room. She immediately stopped suffocating Hikari and Kasai and stood up like a civilized human. "'Morning Mrs. Hoshiko, Fine day isn't it?"

Rina brightened the moment she spotted Yuki. Her parents stood in momentary shock at Yuki's sudden switch in personality.

"Now, if ya don't mind…" Yuki drawled, inching towards the twins and ushering then through the door. "Imma steal these two for a few hours."

(mini PoV switch 'cause Imma lazy and need to keep the story flowing.)

"Sooooo." Yuki began, putting her hands together. "What brings you here?"

"Mom and dad have a meeting in thirty or so minutes," Kasai began,

"So they felt bad about leaving us home alone on Christmas and agreed to let us spend the night here." Hikari finished. "Rina bought Pocky for everyone!"

Yuki immediately zoned in on the plastic bag Rina was carrying. "Rina…"

"Got It!" The raven-haired freshman responded, handing Yuki several boxes and then proceeding to hand the rest out. How Rina had somehow guessed all their favorite flavors, the world would never know. (Trivia: Hikaoki likes almonds. This is not a well-known fact that Rina was somehow able to guess.)

"How did you know I liked lemon?" Tricia inquired, snacking on some of the citrus-flavored pocky.

"You put lemon juice on chocolate chip cookies to make them taste like lemon cookies, right?" Rina replied, Tricia freezing up and staring at the younger girl. "Only a daredevil or someone who likes lemons would try something like that. You don't strike me as the former." ( **Note from Author: This actually works. When you go to a buffet, get lemons from the seafood section and put a good amount of it on the cookies to make them taste like slightly moist lemon cookies with chocolate chips. Don't ask how I figured this out...)**

"Okay?" Tricia replied, How exactly had Rina noticed and remembered such a futile detail? It would be one of the mysteries that would continue to puzzle her.

" **Author justs needs to give Rina something that resembles her non-AU self."** Aisel said from nowhere, " **Her perception is supposed to contrast with her non-AU blindness and show what non-AU Rina lost during the first Werewolf War. Although, realistically there was no way Rina could have figured out that Hikaoki liked almonds."**

Silence encased the room. Aisel sighed.

" **Great, I just ruined the happy atmosphere by bringing up the depressing reality. Author and the readers are going to be mad at me as well. Now you know what the Kaikos would be if werewolves never happened."**

Silent confusion

" **Oh, Author is supposed to give Sakiris and Shiro more screen time or at least distinctive personalities (like Yuki) but I guess she failed in that regard. Sakiris is supposed to be this happy-go-lucky cinnamon roll (but not the Author's type of cinnamon roll) and Shiro is supposed to be this stickler that tries to keep the gang intact and functioning."**

More confusion

" **Right now Author should be freaking out about the spelling of 'realistically' two paragraphs above since she always misspells words over 7 or 8 letters. She actually spelled it correctly on the first try, which is a first… and she misspelled 'actually'. I give up."**

 **...Later**

If Tricia had to acknowledge something, it was Yuki's tendency to overdo parties.

The sheer amount of food in front of her only supported that claim.

"THE PORK ISN'T READY." Exclaimed Yuki as she began piling meat into her bowl at an impressive speed. "IT AIN'T READY PEOPLE."

Everyone else made a lunge for the food once they overcame their confusion, realizing that Yuki was bluffing to get more pork to herself. Any onlooker would have mistaken this event for starving piranhas being presented food. Never underestimate the potential of starving teenagers.

"Next round!" Yuki exclaimed once she finished her bowl. For comparison, Tricia had yet to start eating. "I want chicken this time!"

"How do you not get fat with the way you eat?" Shiro inquired while Yuki inhaled pineapple. This was a frequently asked question for Yuki, who was well known for eating unhealthy amounts of Cup Noodles and bubble tea at both an insane frequency and amount.

"'Dunno!" She replied through a mouthful of bubble tea. "I just eat when I get hungry and stuff myself at parties." Note that 'parties' does not refer to the typical high school teenage parties where people go insane and destroy everything (most likely either drunk or high). Yuki is referring to the 'shove food in your mouth like there's no tomorrow' 'parties' where only eating and talking is done, like what she is doing right now.

"I want a bubble tea!" Killuko, Hikari, and Kasai whined at the same time. Three bubble teas were thrown into the air. Three twelve(eleven)-year-olds were satisfied. Photographic memory Rina very conveniently forgot to restrain the twin's sugar intake, as none of them really cared about getting a sugar rush.

Killuko was pigging out like there was no tomorrow because her parents only ate 'fancy cuisine' as her mother described it. Killuko called it 'starve yourself to death with these tiny portions' as they were '60% plate, 35% sauce, 4.9% parsley, and 0.1% food.'

Hikari and Kasai were pigging out… for no real reason because you don't need a reason to appreciate food.

In fact, everyone so focused on the food that they didn't realize that they had visitors until a Kelsi-shaped shadow loomed over them.

" _Hello Yuki."_ Kelsi drawled as everyone froze, the room silent except for the distant sizzling of beef. " _I see you helped yourself to my credit card._ "

"...I did?" Yuki squeaked in a voice several octaves too high.

" _Yes you did._ "

"Oh… hahaha." The albino said with a nervous laugh, "Funny story, Someone seems to be calling me so…"

" _Don't use Shirobako references on me._ Lennex, bubble tea." Kelsi was promptly thrown a drink. Wordlessly, she pulled a chair and pair of chopsticks from nowhere and snatched several pieces of beef from the hibachi table.

There was momentary confusion until Yuki realized that the beef was about to burn.

"THE BEEF IS TOO READY" Yuki cried as she made a mad dash for the pieces of meat, everyone following as it would be a waste to let the precious food go to waste. "IT'S READY"

The night continued as if nothing had happened, Kelsi internally cackling at her mini-sort-of prank. After all, there was no way that she would be angry after being exposed to credit card abuse for the past two years.

" **And the happy filler chapter ends because Author is a jerk and needs to start on the merciless Werewolf Arc. Enjoy the happiness while it lasts."**

-Line-

 **To everyone that is unfamiliar with some of the eastern references I made:**

 **Hibachi is where you grill whatever you want on an oversized hot plate that you put on the table you are eating on. You cook the food while you eat. Hotpot is pretty much the same except with a pot of water.**

 **Red bean (the processed type) is a sweet god-like bean that you put in/on anything that is meant to be sweet. It comes in a paste with red bean carcasses in it.**

 **For anyone unfamiliar, the common type of bubble tea comes with a plastic film over the top that you stab with a big straw that they give you. That's why the tea didn't spill when Lennex threw it at Yuki.**

 **I will update normally, this is just a bonus update.**


	20. -The Beginning of the End-

**Chapter 20**

-The Beginning of the End-

 **Kurapika's PoV**

 **Sometime after Katsu leaves**

Kurapika woke up to sunlight streaming through the windows, leaving him rather irritated at the disturbance.

Where was he? The blond wondered, not recognizing the ceiling that he had woken up to. The events of the night before came crashing down on him. He had an older brother, Katsu. Tricia was a Kaiko.

 _Tricia, a Kaiko…_ The thought was foreign to Kurapika. He had heard of them not too long after the clan's massacre. Several doses of purified Kaiko's blood had made it to the auctions, causing chaos as bidders scrambled for a vial of the life-giving blood. The blood was said to cure any disease or illness, heal any wound, or act as an antidote for any poison.

That would explain Katsu's lack of urgency when Tricia had collapsed with a severely burned arm. The bounty hunter was probably already up and fully healed.

Speaking of remembering, there was something strange in his memories. A message?...

" _Don't tell Killua or Gon about Tricia's predicament. According to them, an enemy of the Ryoshi attacked Tricia and she has to report back to Kelsi. You have no idea when she's coming back, but you might want to check your phone once you're alone."_

Strange, he didn't think Katsu had the time to say that. After all, he had almost instantly collapsed once they were in the hotel room.

Kurapika reached for his phone, wondering what kind of message Katsu could have left him. Almost immediately, he felt something in the phone case. _Was that the message?_ He thought while taking off the case.

A piece of paper fell out, Kurapika catching it mid-air.

 _4534 0284_

 _Make sure you dial the right number, this isn't wrong._

The handwriting was small with joined letters. Kurapika recognized it as Tricia's, as he remembered Danzelle yelling at Tricia about a quickly written report's illegibility

Kurapika dialed the number once he read the message over, wondering who was on the other end as the number wasn't Tricia's.

"Rectangle bricks with dots on them's Pizza how can I help you." A voice said from the other end. Was this what Tricia meant when she wrote 'Make you dial the right number, this isn't wrong.'?

"May I please speak to Hawk?" Kurapika asked, deciding to use Tricia's bounty hunter name instead of her real one.

"Ma'am, we have a no pet policy and last time I checked, hawks do not speak."

"Then," Kurapika started, thinking while ignoring the cashier's 'slip up'. "Could you pass the phone to Kelsi Lukkel?"

"She isn't here. Would you like to leave a family-friendly message?"

"Yes. Tell Lukkel-san that I would like to know more about Hawk's situation and that this is from Kurapika."

"Waaaait." The cashier dragged out, most likely trying to buy time as she ruffled through stacks of paper. "Your name is Kurapika."

"Yes." He responded, somewhat confused by the cashier's sudden change in tone.

"Seems like Tricia has a message for you. 'If you run into anything, go to 5 Winter Lane apartment 6-' Hey! that's my place. 'If she's not there, just force your way in. If she's not actually there, then leave a message on the window or something.' Okay, don't actually break in, you can just slip a note under the door or something. Laminate the note while you're at it as well."

"...Okay?" Kurapika responded, extremely confused.

"Address the note to 'Luna Ravin', just in case someone gets it before I do."

"Got it," The blond replied. After a quick farewell, he hung up. It seemed as though Luna Ravin was a trusted associate of the Kaikos. Tricia had most likely given him her contact in case he was ambushed in any way.

"Kurapika's up!" Killua almost yelled when he walked into the room to see the conscious blond, causing Kurapika to wince. Turns out migraines were a side effect of nen overuse. "Turns out the quack healer/brother could actually do something!"

"Killua, what time is it?" Kurapika asked. The albino looked over to him before responding.

"5 pm, you've been out for approximately sixteen hours." Just sixteen? Kurapika wondered. Nen exhaustion usually kept someone unconscious for a day. Although, it was possible that Katsu had hurried up the process.

"What happened to Tricia?" Gon said, barreling through the door.

"She's just out reporting to the Ryoshi." Kurapika said, lying through his teeth.

"I'm sure she'll be fine."

* * *

 **Tricia's PoV**

 **12 Hours Ago**

I was greeted by the grim truth the moment I stepped into the realm

Forty or so Kaikos stood in the clearing, the last Kaikos. The Council stood separated from the group, discussing some kind of matter. Karima was absent, I noticed.

' _Where's Alice?'_ Yuki said, speaking up. The draiknor was currently floating above her, circling the crowd in search of the pinkette. ' _i can't find her.'_

' _That's strange…'_ I admitted, first Karima was gone, and now Alice? out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a familiar head of fiery red hair. _Akiryuu!?_

There was definitely something wrong. Akiryuu was a Kaiko associate, not actually part of the clan but close enough to be part of it's affairs. After proving her worth many times during the war, she was considered an honorary member of the Council.

Above all that, calling in Akiryuu to a clan meeting was a last resort. The last time that had happened was three years ago.

' _Karima and Alice have been kidnapped by the werewolves.'_ Kelsi began, broadcasting the news to the group. Takuya and Hikaoki warped out of the realm soon after she started, most likely to get a head start on finding their location. ' _After Takuya and Hikaoki have found their locations, we will send a retrieval team after them. The team will be as follows: Akiryuu, Keiron, Luna, Tricia, Yuki, Rina, and Sakurami.'_

They were sending the remainder of their scouts? Takuya, Luna, and Rina were the only scouts/sensors that the Kaikos had. Draiknors could be used as sensors as well but were less effective than the three. Although combined with the remaining makeup of the group, Kelsi had made sure that she wouldn't be losing any of them.

Akiryuu and Luna were speed-type powerhouses, Keiron, Rina, Sakurami, Yuki, and I were mostly supports with Keiron doubling as a tank, Rina as a sensor, and Yuki as a minor AOE. I wasn't well-versed enough in the Seven Swords to be used as a nuke, so I would be sticking to the sidelines as a stealth-type support.

 **Yes, readers, a support type OC that isn't a healer or useless in battle. Tricia can hold her own in a fight, but so should any person that's on a battlefield. - An exasperated Aisel and Author after reading too many Naruto Mary Sue fics where the MC is a healer on the front lines.**

The team was made with the possibility of splitting up in mind. Akiryuu and Keiron worked well together and could easily hold off a team of werewolves. A combination of Luna, Rina, Yuki, and I could take care of any stray werewolves that happened to come our way, although that was unlikely due to Luna and Rina's sensing. Sakurami would be tagging along as a pinch sensor and to extract any potential information about the werewolves.

 **...Sorry, I kind of like going into detail about team makeup and strategy.**

* * *

 **Takuya's PoV**

 **Somewhere over the rainbow**

 _ **Okami relocates to a different base every two days. The order of locations he will be in is: Area 13, 15, 7, 3. 21, 11, 35, 27.**_ '

Takuya recalled, scouting the area with his Ravin eye. The information the message had given him was correct; he has just confirmed it with his ability.

It was interesting though, how the message had only given him information about Okami instead of his army of werewolves. There was also something else that bothered him. The wording of the message was strange as well. 'Okami relocates to a different base every two days.' 'The order of locations he will be in is Area 13, 15, 7, 3, 21, 11, 35, 27.' The first message mentioned that he would be in a different base every two days. The second only described his location, not which base he would be in.

The question was, Was there a hidden message or was he just overthinking it?

Takuya was inclined to think the latter, as the 'Author' had shown obvious favoritism toward him in the first portion of the letter. She had deliberately made everything easy for him, as so it would seem; giving him both Ravin and Kurta eyes along with 'plot armor' as she called it.

If so, what was bothering him?

There was an inconsistency somewhere, there had to be.

' _ **You will live. I have already made you near invincible with your OP Hatsu and build.'**_

' _ **Only a combination of you, Kelsi, and Tricia will be able to take him down with no casualties. DO NOT take Luna to the final fight or the rest of the Council WILL die. '**_

' _ **His ability is not realm creation, but realm manipulation.'**_

Realm manipulation, not realm creation.

Bringing Kelsi to the final fight…

Kelsi was a realm master.

' _ **I have already made you near invincible with your OP Hatsu and build.'**_

What was the Author trying to say? Takuya pondered this, looking over the area while his partner communicated with Angel and the others.

No. There was a vital piece of the puzzle missing. He had all the pieces and only needed one more conclusion. The Author had confidence in his abilities, which was why she gave him information about something that was virtually impossible to figure out. She did not give him information about the rest of the war as she knew that he and Kelsi would be about the figure that out.

Her previous statements about his ability and plot armor only mentioned his own welfare, stated that he could not die. 'I have already made you near invincible with your OP Hatsu and build'. That statement sounded suspiciously unfinished. The off-topic sentence that followed that only confirmed that.

What should have followed that should have been something along the lines of 'So go do/achieve _.' insinuating that there was something that he needed to do, which was most likely figuring out the message.

Takuya almost laughed at himself. It was simple, the meaning of the message. 'Here's information that you will never figure out if left on your own. Okami moves every two days, this information will be crucial and you will never figure it out on your own. His location will be Area 13, 15, 7, 3, 21, 11, 35, 27. The war will last no longer than 16 days, with the final battle taking place in Area 27. After the final battle, he will either no longer matter to the Kaikos or be dead. His ability is not realm creation, but realm manipulation. This information is so you can properly fight him. Only a combination of you, Kelsi, and Tricia will be able to take him down with no casualties. Don't change this setup just because you know his true Hatsu. Okami is not as powerful as you think he is, and you are not as powerless as you think you are. DO NOT take Luna to the final fight or the rest of the Council WILL die. There is another enemy in the shadows, so watch your back.

'You will play a crucial role in the outcome of the war. You may not die, but the others will. How many casualties there will be will depend on your performance.'

No wonder the author made the message as short as it was; the true meaning of it would have taken up too much space and time. She had proven to be notoriously lazy based on the Narrator's actions and choice of words. Leave it to that kind of lazy author to let her characters do the work.

"You figured something out, didn't you?" Hikaoki said, speaking up and breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Takuya responded. The war would be difficult, but not beyond their capabilities. Out of the corner of his eye, a single presence caught his attention. He knew that presence anywhere, the aura of a werewolf. "I found something as well, should be Karima and Alice."

On cue, both of them flickered toward the signature, Hikaoki alerting Kelsi of the recent development. The retrieval team would set out in a matter of minutes; it wouldn't take long to find the base with Kurta eyes and Luna.

Legend says, if you listen really closely, you can hear Aisel throwing pots and pans a the Author for going on such a long rant. Part of it might have to do with the fact that this was just to take up words since I'm typing this on the 28th and this is the only since I've written so far.

...I'm really glad that I got rid of the floating bender a while ago. That would have been painful.

* * *

 **Tricia's PoV**

 **A Few Hours Later**

' _We're here,'_ Takuya informed us as we arrived in front of a seemingly abandoned building. ' _Hikaoki and I will be infiltrating the base as well, but for a different mission. In the case of an emergency, either group could call on the other for back up.'_

 _A three-pronged attack._ Tricia realized. Akiryuu would be acting as the main distraction with Keiron backing her up. The rest of their group would act as needed with the main goal of retrieving Karima and Alice. Takuya and Hikaoki either act as a second distraction or perform a ghost mission, a mission where the werewolves had no idea that they were even there.

It was an intricate thought out mission and one that reeked of Kelsi's planning and experience. One that played to our strengths by avoiding engaging in battle, due to both our advantage of sensors and lack of manpower.

 _Well, she isn't the leader of Kaikos for nothing._ I thought as I cast an illusion on my group and the duo flickered off somewhere. _Now it's up to us to put it in action._

* * *

 **AN**

 **I AM SO SORRY FOR THE RANT. I ACTUALLY DID NOT PLAN ANY OF THAT, BELIEVE IT OR NOT.**

 **I have this ability called 'make something out of nothing', believe it or not. So in some ways, Takuya was really just overthinking it.**

 **This ability can be awoken by watching too many anime analysis videos and can be leveled up to insane heights by not reading articles and books for ELA and Social Studies and being forced to write essays on that one summary that you read instead of the actual book/article.**

 **If you are lucky, you read a summary. If you're not, you only read the title of the article.**

 **I was the latter….**

 **Needless to say, I really hope that my Social Studies teacher doesn't realize that the several paragraphs I wrote were really all about one line.**

 **I am also severely mentally confused.**

 **I'm on my (mentally calculates amount (around 4 cups per bag, I've gone through… 4 bags?) 18th cup of hot green tea (it's four pm…) while eating butter pecan ice cream** _ **while**_ **listening to classical music** _ **while**_ **typing a fanfiction.**

 **First I want to healthy/mature then I want to be obese/screw health YOLO then I want to be old then I want to be a teenager.**


	21. -Chaotic Peace-

**-Line-**

 **Swearing because werewolves don't fear Aisel.**

It didn't take long for us to run into a problem, quite literally.

' _Hullo, you're the illusion person, right?'_ Akiryuu asked her telepathically. It had been a while since we had entered the werewolf HQ. So far, we had been able to avoid most of the patrols and stray wanderers because of Luna and Rina. The werewolves most likely knew that were were coming to retrieve our comrades as well and had set up fake posts with traces of Alice and Karima's nen signatures. This had lead to quite a few difficulties that had lead to delays to a normally simple retrieval mission.

' _Yes, that's me.'_

' _I heard your specialty was this neat trick called 'Timelapse', right?'_ Chills crawled up my spine. Something told me that Akiryuu was an older Yuki with fire.

' _...Yes?'_

' _Well, my Hatsu is pretty limited to my reaction speed, but I want to see if Timelapse can change that.'_

' _Okay?'_ I finished. I knew that Akiryuu was part of a Specialist clan that could 'summon' eastern dragons made of multipurpose flame. Controlling the dragons was supposed to be extremely difficult and required immense concentration. Akiryuu was one of the best, and she could only control three or four.

' _We've been noticed.'_ Luna said, suddenly stopping in her tracks. ' _Who's staying behind?'_

' _Keiron and I will be.'_ Akiryuu responded rather calmly, as she had foreseen this happening. The redhead had been on more than a few missions during her life and was well-accustomed to being noticed an retrieval mission, especially if said missions required waltzing into one of the largest werewolf bases. ' _Tricia will lag behind for a little so she can cast Timelapse on me.'_

Keiron's Hatsu was reinforcement, a Hatsu that was especially useful in buildings and even more so when partnered with a destructive Hatsu, such as Akiryuu's or Lennex's.

' _Got it.'_ Luna said. It wasn't too long before all of us could sense the ominous aura that approached us. It was a familiar aura, the one of a beast trapped inside the shell of a human being, one of a werewolf. All of us tensed as the battle inched closer, except for Akiryuu, Luna, and Keiron who were confident in their abilities.

 _Cast Timelapse on Akiryuu, and when she gives the signal, follow Luna and the rest of the team._ I told myself, forcing my breathing to calm down.

One moment was serenity, and the next was chaos.

Two dragons swirled into existence, drowning the first attackers in a sea of flames. I quickly cast Timelapse on Akiryuu, the red-head grinning mischievously as soon as the effects of the illusion began to occur.

"It's the damned Ryuuhane!" One of the werewolves exclaimed, two more dragons manifesting on Akiryuu's fists. The red-head responded to the werewolf by smashing the ceiling above them, causing several of them to be crushed by the pieces. Keiron was already in position, reinforcing the parts of the building that we didn't want collapsing.

"The 'damned Ryuuhane' has a name and a title, y'know!" Akiryuu exclaimed back, a bit of her accent slipping into her speech. "'Tis Dragon Fist Akiryuu! Remembe' it!" She finished, smashing werewolf fodder into well-done werewolf feed.

' _Do not get on Akiryuu's side.'_ I noted, ' _In fact, do not anger anyone in possession of fire or explosives.'_

' _Or nice people.'_ Yuki added, ' _Especially nice people, like me.'_

A fifth dragon appeared, wrecking further havoc among the platoon of soldiers.

' _You can go now.'_ Akiryuu said, dismissing me _, 'Keiron and I will catch up once I beat the livin' crap outta these 'damned werewolves'.'_

I sprinted after Rina, definitely not needed to be told twice.

-Line-

' _Where's Alice and Karima?'_ I asked. Luna and Rina both gestured to someplace north-northwest. So far, the mission had been going along smoothly. The werewolves had sent reinforcements to Akiryuu and Keiron's battle but they were still going strong.

' _They probably know that we're coming for the prisoners so they're moving Karima and Alice around.'_ Luna said, elaborating on their location. ' _We'll have to fight off a few of the guards though. Shouldn't be too much of a problem though.'_

' _Okie Dokie!'_ Yuki chirped, ' _I'll pitch in using Minefield.'_

' _There are a total of four of them. Rina and I can take two, Tricia and Yuki can take the other, and Sakurami can work on retrieving Alice and Karima.'_

' _Got it.'_ Rina and I said, Yuki pitching in with an 'Aye aye captain!'. We would encounter the werewolves any moment now. When, I wouldn't know.

Currently, Luna was leading the group due to her status as the best fighter out of the three of us. I followed her with Rina taking the rear. After hearing the groups that would be taking down the werewolves, I couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. My last encounter with a werewolf had gone terribly, to say the least. My arm had been burned to smithereens and I had only survived due to the intervention of a spy.

To top the off, Maktsia would be classified at an average soldier's level of strength. He was the same as the fodder that Akiryuu had been punching around earlier.

Now I would be facing two more of them. Granted, I had Yuki, but even Yuki had limits.

' _Stawp worrying so much!'_ Yuki said to me, ' _We'll be fiiine. If Luna thinks we can do it, hell yeah we can do it!'_

' _Yeah.'_ I said, trying to calm my nerves. ' _We should be able to take on two werewolves.'_

' _Nawh nopity nope. We_ will _be able to kick some werewolf butt!'_

' _Got it.'_

' _More enthusiasm!'_

' _Got it!'_

' _Much better.'_ Yuki yawned 50 meters above me. ' _Just don't die on me, 'kay?'_

' _I won't.'_ I said, to both Yuki and me. I survived several fights in the last war just fine. There was no way I couldn't do it again. I had a solid skill set between kenjutsu and illusions. I could use the Seven Swords if I ever was in a pinch, although I still had some issues with number 4. In the time they had spent in Kelsi's realm, Yuki and Tricia had agreed to lower the nen usage and power of the swords that they had trouble with since they had no time to perfect them as they were.

Currently, all of the swords were unusable to some extent, except for number four.

"Look what's here." A foreign deep voice rumbled, " _Kittens_." As we turned the corner, we encountered four werewolves, just as Luna has described. Two similar-looking werewolves stood to our left with one other to our right.

' _Looks like we get the siblings.'_ Yuki said, already firing up her Hatsu. Minefield was activated by leaking Yuki's nen into the ground, which would then clump up and form deactivated explosives that were invisible to the eye hence the name 'Minefield'. Once 100 bombs were in place, the minefield would activate, exploding only when the targets stepped on the bombs.

"Look at what came crawling back from the dump." Luna spat back, " _Sons of some bitches."_

At the finish of her sentence, the werewolves charged at the 4' 8'' swordswoman partly engaged at the girl and partly because it was true since they were dog hybrids.

I easily stopped the siblings in their paths, sliding my katana out of its sheath and engaging them in close-combat. Both of their pupils were dilated from their activated Ren and only continued to further transform the more nen they used.

"C2!" The slightly taller one called out of the blue. Instantly, the two of them slid in a formation around me, nen pulsing into their hands.

' _OH NO YOU DON'T'_ Yuki said, flinging more than several explosives down onto the rooftop.

Minefield: 7/100

Their Hatsus seemed to be sync with each other. I noted, mind scrambling to figure out their abilities and fighting style. It seemed that one of them would call a code and the other would respond appropriately.

"First Summon: Raikori!" I called, a veil of ice and lighting covering my katana. The original created a blade that would freeze and electrocute anything it touched, but the weaker version would have to do.

"T21!" The shorter one said to the taller. Instantly, a gun-like object appeared in both of their hands. Yuki kept them dancing with explosives.

Minefield: 20/100

C2? T21? I pondered, using Timelapse to slow the world around me. Between 'C' and 'T' were 18 letters. 18 x 21 was some three digit number. It was near impossible to remember 3 hundred-something combos, so they must have some kind of code hidden in the numbers and letters they chose.

I activated Hunter's Bane, the third sword of Enki. Hunter's Bane was a floating transmuted blade that wandered behind be, connected by a single line of nen. Both of them began firing from afar, clearly not wanting to get close to me.

Minefield: 32/100

 _What if… T stood for Transmuter?_

I pulled the two into a slim illusion, tricking them into missing their shots and confusing the world out of them. A simple tug on the illusion and their world shimmered.

Minefield: 41/100

 _C would stand for Close-combat._ I thought, slashing the taller one's shoulder.

"S9." _Specialist._ The injured werewolf said, gritting his teeth. Even if I understood some of their code, it didn't put me at an advantage.

The two werewolves were now beginning to turn more obviously now, their face becoming more feral and hands more clawed. The shorter was already sprouting ears and fur.

Bombs rained down on the two, Yuki having the time of her life.

Minefield: 67/100

 _Keep on the offense_ , I told myself, leaving a mirage of myself behind as I lunged at the shorter one's throat. The world around them seemed to shimmer as I 'appeared' right next to the werewolf's neck.

The werewolves were now overwhelmed with Yuki's explosions and my illusions. For them, any moment that wasn't spent dodging explosives was spent trying to make sense of the constantly shimmering and shifting world around them.

Minefield: 74/100

"O32!" The shorter one called, both of them taking offensive stances and charging nen into their hands. A whip appeared out of thin air, which seemed to crack with some kind of electricity.

The assumed older brother was an conjurer, the younger was possibly the same.

I soon found out that the weapon was indeed channeled with electricity when the same whip when suddenly cracked right next to me. If it hadn't been for Timelapse, I would have been dead and electrocuted. The younger brother was cooking up something nasty as well.

The world slowed down in preparation of the werewolves' attack, the electrical whip clear against the dusking sky.

Minefield: 81/100

' _Hang in there Tricia!'_ Yuki called optimistically. ' _Just a bit more and this fight is ours!'_

I would have smiled if I hadn't discovered how _fast_ the whip moved. There was a _quick_ blur to my right, and before I knew it, I had somehow gotten an electrical burn on wrist. In surprise, I dropped my sword.

The first time was a fake. Much to my dismay, a second one appeared in his hand. Soon, all hopes of retrieving my sword were lost as he pressured me away from the weapon.

Even with Timelapse and my reaction speed at its finest, I simply couldn't _move_ fast enough to avoid the lighting-fast whips. It wouldn't be long before I was overwhelmed. My only hope was to buy time and hope that Minefield would finish in time.

87/100

89/100

92/100

95/100

Just was the count reached the final stretch, the shorter werewolf finished powering up his ability.

"X" Both of them said at the same time, the shorter one now at the edge of losing control of his body to the beast inside of him. Despite this, feral predatory smiles spread over their faces.

Within seconds I knew why.

Every layer of illusion that I had placed on them instantly shattered when I was suddenly suspended in the air with invisible bonds. Throughout the fight, the shorter one had been setting up his trap, which was why he turned much faster than his assumed older brother.

A werewolf turns according to the amount of nen they use. The numbers they had been saying probably had to do with the trap, not their combos. The letters were most likely thrown in to distract me.

"Aeolus." I said, trying to summon the second sword. No wind gathered in my hand like I had practiced. Hunter's Bane disappeared, as I was forced into a state of Zetsu soon after.

"I've got you now." The taller one hissed from the pain of the cuts and burns we had given him. The sharpening bonds around my body tighten, drawing blood. "You damned Kaikos really put up a fight, I'll give you that."

Yuki flung a few bombs onto the floor.

Minefield: 99/100

"SHUT UP YOU DAMNED LIZARD." He screamed into the air, tightening my bonds even further. They were starting to really hurt now. Luna was more than busy dealing with her own werewolves and couldn't help me either.

One last spark made it to the floor.

Minefield: 100/100

-Complete-

The world exploded into a beautiful shade of burning red and yellow, burning my opponents into werewolf kebabs and dispelling the trap that I was entangled in.

' _Aaand BOOM!'_ Yuki cheered. Despite my original confusion at Yuki's enthusiasm when it came to explosives, I do admit, seeing stone erupt into clouds of smoke and fire is rather satisfying. ' _i never get bored of this.'_

' _I would definitely say the same.'_ I said, watching the harmless columns of fire bloom around me.

Within a minute or so, the smoke cleared up and Luna and Rina's werewolves joined ours. Now that the fight was over, I was more than happy to have survived a battle against two werewolves.

My fight against Maktsia was simply turned into his favor because of the explosion in the beginning that caught me off guard, which forced me to fight without use of God's Reign and extensive use of the Seven Swords. The toned down version of the Seven Swords fit my style much better as well.

I briefly snapped myself back to reality.

' _Hm?'_ Yuki said as Luna used her Ravin eyes to searched the area. It was clear that the draiknor had noticed something unusual. ' _Now that I think about it, where's Alice-.'_

Luna's eyes widened in that one second, immediately whipping around to the airborne draiknor. "DOWN!"

' _Wha-'_

A beam of light shot out of nowhere, hitting a bundle of feathers in the sky as the world began to slow down. One moment everything was going well and in the next, everything was wrong.

The lifeless once-blue draiknor fell onto the floor.

" _YUKI_!"

-Line-

 **BONUS KAIKO RANKING**

Dunno if you caught it, but in chapter two I wrote a list of the top ten of the Kaikos. The list is:

Kelsi

Takuya

Lennex

Karima

Keiron

Hikaoki

Ruki

Luna

Akiryuu

Masaru

Hopefully, you will be able to understand it better now, since you probably didn't know who half these characters were in chapter 2.

Note that the characters are not sorted in terms of battle capability, but their overall abilities and how well they could lead the Kaikos.

I think I also mentioned that Kelsi and Takuya could technically tie for first, but Takuya settled for no. 2 because Kelsi's better with the public and legal stuff.

Hm… If they were sorted by battle capacity it would go something along the lines of this:

Kelsi

Takuya

Akiryuu

Lennex

Luna

Keiron

Masaru

Hikaoki

Tricia & Yuki Combo

Eh, I haven't really introduced anyone capable of taking 10th but that's how I would think it would go

 **Kelsi vs Takuya** \- **Draw** but Kelsi wins due to a more versatile skill set

Kelsi can't counter Takuya's speed but Takuya can't injure Kelsi because of her 'realm flicker' technique, where she quickly teleports to a different realm and then teleports back. Even if Kelsi can only appear in the place she disappeared, Takuya's busy dealing with meteors.

 **Lennex vs Akiryuu** \- **Akiryuu** wins

Lennex has explosives, Akiryuu has four snake dragons that can strangle you in flames. Lennex's new rope/explosive combo is a nice defense and offense, but Akiryuu has _four flaming snake dragons._

 **Lennex vs Luna** \- **Lennex**

Uh… Ravin eyes and shadow armor don't work very well against explosives.

 **Tricia and Yuki Combo** \- Pretty powerful, but still under **Hikaoki**

Tricia is invincible in close-range combat, and Yuki makes up for her weakness in far/mid range by pelting the enemy with bombs and using Minefield. Loses to Hikaoki due to lack of defense.

 **Keiron in genera** l - Loses to **everyone above**

Try using a walls against Ravin eyes, explosives, _four flaming snake dragons,_ or swords. Or if you're really suicidal, _Kelsi_

 **Hikaoki** \- Do I really need to explain?

HONING ABILITIES DO NOT WORK AGAINST WALLS, RAVIN EYES, EXPLOSIVES, _FOUR FLAMING SNAKE DRAGONS,_ OR SWORDS. Buuuuuut a weapon-switchy thing might. Maybe if you use it with the homing ability?

 **Karima** \- Really?

-Line-

 **AN**

 **Oh… hehehehehehe. Yuki's dead.**

 **I had actually planned this pretty early on, somewhere during the first hunter exam phase or so.**

 **DON'T KILL ME.**

 **(Pretty please)**


	22. -The Aftermath-

**Chapter 22**

 **OH MY GOD I JUST RELIZED THAT I FORGOT TO POST TWO WEEKS AGO. I THOUGHT THAT I HAD POSTED BUT I DIDN'T**

 **I AM SO SORRY BUT HERE IS A DOUBLE (SORT OF) UPDATE.**

 **-Line-**

 **Lennex's PoV**

"So I'm to infiltrate the werewolves?" Lennex said with a raised eyebrow. He knew that he was Kelsi's top spy, but the werewolves was a little over the top, especially with his ears and tail.

"Not exactly." Kelsi responded, flicking through a few reports. "The proper wording would be 'destroy from the inside.'"

"Hm?" Now Lennex was interested. It wasn't often that he would get a chance to his Hatsu to blow stuff up and the pyromaniac inside of him was crying tears of joy that this opportunity.

"I need you to get captured at the main base" _Oh,_ Lennex grimaced. That did not sound nice. "Keiron will join you soon after. At midnight of that day, Katsu will free you. At that point, you just need to destroy the entire building before Okami can get to you. Run if you meet him."

So they were to destroy the main base. Main base. As in, the base where _majority of the werewolf army and possibly Okami_ would be. His mini-pyromaniac was immediately silenced by his self preservation.

The blond had half the mind to whack the 23-year-old leader over the head. This mission was borderline suicidal, especially considering the possibility of running into Okami and his lap dogs. She was asking him to destroy the very base the leader would be staying in with just his explosions. Keiron would be able to protect them from the debris, but his shields weren't exactly invincible either.

"Can we get Akiryuu as well?" Lennex asked. With the Ryuuhane, the chances of success were much higher. There wasn't much the red-head couldn't handle, especially with _four flaming snake dragons_.

"With her reputation, they'd probably kill her on sight." Kelsi said, reminding Lennex that this mission requires the to get caught first, and then destroy the base. The werewolves probably wouldn't even bother with trying to take her blood to begin with, as they doubted that Akiryuu had Kaiko blood due to her strong Ryuuhane traits.

"Maybe Luna?" The blond offered. The Ravin would be extremely useful in these type of situations and wasn't too shabby at taking down large numbers of werewolves either.

"They might try to injure her eyes before midnight arrives." Lennex frowned as he considered other options. Taking a younger less-experienced Kaiko could result in casualties, but most of the experienced fighters were either unsuitable for the job or had their own missions.

Lennex sighed and leaned back in his chair. It seemed as though he was out of options. Takuya and Hikaoki were out of the picture and none of the other decently-experienced fighters had suitable skillsets.

"Why is this clan 90 percent kids again?" He huffed in annoyance. Everything would be easier if even half the clan was over the age of 18, or heck, even 17. With most of the Kaikos being 15, their chances of winning the war were near non-existent.

Lennex almost felt bad for Kelsi, at least he wasn't the one who had to lead and deal with bunch of moody teenagers.

"Because the other 10 percent have no life." Kelsi said offhandedly, flicking through some more paperwork. "I never signed up for this."

"Neither did I." Lennex said with a sigh. "But why does everything always come back to teenagers?"

"Maybe because they mistakenly think that they own the world or something." Kelsi responded, receiving a glare from the blond, one that she didn't see because she was busy reading through a lease.

"You're one to say, being 23 and all." On the topic of people that think they own the world when they actually don't, Lennex thought it'd be appropriate to bring up people in their early twenties since they have this notion that they're some kind of old wise leader of sorts.

Kelsi responded with a sigh, most likely too tired with bills and paperwork to deal with Lennex's antics. "Maybe you should actually go and do some work."

"Huh, are you telling me to leave?" Kelsi paused for a moment to put her pen down and look up at him for the first time in the entire conversation.

"Yes, now get out."

 **-Line-**

 **Two Days Later**

 **Kurapika's PoV**

It wasn't until the third day of Tricia's disappearance did Gon and Killua demanded an answer. Kurapika had been evading the two with vague responses for the past few days, but it was evident that they would not stop until they received some sort of satisfactory response. That much was obvious when Killua stormed in 10 minutes ago.

"There's no way Tricia would just drop of the face of the Earth for _three days_!" Killua argued. The silver-haired assassin had previously been rather suspicious of Tricia at first, but most of that suspicion had been shoved to the side when he had seen how distressed Gon was.

"We even tried messaging, calling, and emailing her!" Gon protested, worried about his friend's health. "Tricia always replied to our emails in a day, now it's been _three."_ Kurapika had been shocked when he discovered that Gon and Killua had been keeping in touch with his coworker and had even opened a chatroom with her. Apparently the two of them, especially Gon, where quite persistent with remaining friends with their hunter exam group.

Kurapika sighed for the upteenth time. He had contacted the Kaiko's phone number numerous times since the first day, but had gotten no more information .They had only told him to keep his contact with the Kaikos a secret and to be patient. Whatever that was going on with the Kaikos seemed to be important and severe, that much he had deducted.

Even so, the lack of contact from Tricia was extremely worrying as well. What Killua and Gon had said were true; Tricia never took more than a day to respond to Danzolle's messages.

"Did the quack medic say anything?" Killua asked. Katsu had been a constantly discussed topic for the two, especially after he had disappeared once they had come back from being chased by Leorio. For some unknown reason, Killua seems rather warly of his older brother.

"About Katsu," Kurapika siad, speaking up for the first time in a while. The two boys were instantly silent. "I first met him when I arrived at Tricia's fight. He knocked out her opponent and then we came to this hotel via the car I had prepared. I collapsed shortly after we arrived in this room."

"Did he say anything to you in the car?" Gon inquired, eager to finally get a hold on some sort of information.

"Yes. He simply explained his relationship to Tricia and the circumstances." Killua's eyes narrowed at this explanation.

"Is that it?" Killua said with more than a little suspicion. Kurapika couldn't help but feel nervous under the assassin's scrutiny.

"Yes." For a moment, Kurapika thought that he was in the clear. Then Killua pulled out a certain piece of paper with the Kaiko's contact on it.

"4534 0284. Make sure you dial the right number, this isn't wrong." Killua read from the slip of paper. Kurapika's heart feel the moment he saw the familiar joined handwriting. "If my assumption is correct, than this is Tricia's handwriting."

"That's…" Kurapika started, knowing the large gaping holes in his argument.

"Correct?" Killua finished, already pulling out his cell and dialing the number. In that moment, Kurapika knew that the facade was over.

"Norland's Crematorium you kill 'em we grill 'em, how can I help you?" " Both Killua and Gon's faced blanked the moment they heard the receiver finished.

"...Can we speak to Tricia?" Killua spoke up. Years of assassin training prepared him for unexpected circumstances, and this definitely qualifies as one of them.

"Oh, I don't know, _CAN you?"_ The phone receiver said with an invisible shrug. All three of them either facepalmed or sweatdropped. If you were Killua, then both.

"... _May_ we speak to Tricia?"

"No."

"Why?" It was Gon who spoke up this time.

"Because... " The speaker began, then faltering. An ominous mood settled in the room as the phone receiver struggled to form a sentence that would describe her situation. "Because… she's in a coma."

"...For, for how long?" Gon said in an imposible small voice.

"I don't know." The speaker said honestly, greif seeping into her voice.

"Maybe forever."

An then, the world went red.

-Line-

 **Tricia's PoV**

Darkness.

That was the first thing that the 16-year old girl saw. Darkness extending all around her. She couldn't seem to remember anything about her besides her name. Her origins, age, strengths, weaknesses, were all part of the same swirling darkness extending all around her. She looked up, expecting to be greeted by the abyss that surrounded her.

But this time, there was no light. It was the abyss that greeted her once more.

There was no comforting presence in the back of her mind, no soft glow of energy or sign of reassurance.

It was just the never-ending darkness that greeted her once more. Again and again.

There was no energy to fight back. Not like last time. Not like when Shiro died. Not with only one fourth of what she started out with.

Because the abyss was eternal, and she was not.

How much more suffering would the world ask from her? How much more would she have to endure?

How much longer would war rage in this broken world of imperfections?

" _Not much."_ A voice called from the swirling darkness. It was a different type of darkness, one that beckoned her and forced her to get up again. " _The end is truely near."_

" _This time, there will be an end to the suffering."_

And once again, Tricia followed the shadow out the darkness.

-Line-

 **Tricia's PoV**

"You're awake." A familiar voice greeted me the moment I woke up. I squinted at the figure in the dim light that I recognized as my room.

"How long was I out for?" I said, noticing how dry my mouth was.

"Two days." Hikaoki responded. I closed my eyes once.

 _Only two days_. I thought to myself. The first time I was out for a week. Nevertheless, time seemed to drag on forever in the abyss that I always seemed to end up in. I was half-tempted to ask what had occured and half tempted to not care. What good was I anyways? I was never all that helpful to begin with.

There was a good chance that I switched nen categories again, as it happened previously. Even then...

 _Yuki is dead._

The truth of the reality slowly sank in.

 _I'll never see Yuki again. Yuki is gone, forever._

I did nothing but stay silent in shock of the moment.

 _Just like Shiro. Just like Sakiris. Just like Killuko. I'll never see them again._

"Your friends are trying to contact you again." The brunette said, motioning toward my phone that was singing with messages. Friends…? I didn't recall having any that would contact me by phone.

Somehow, I was suddenly sitting up and flicking through the stream of messages. I brushed aside the lapse in my memory and began reading.

 _Gon: Tricia, when are coming back? Kurapika woke up a while ago._

 _Gon: Did the Ryoshi run into some kind of issue?_

 _Killua: Hey, where are you?_

 _Gon: Are you OK? Your arm didn't seem too well._

The messages seem to go on forever, spanning over the course of my three day absence. Most of them were from Gon, who gave daily, almost hourly, updates. A portion of them where from Killua, who commented about the 'quack doctor'. There was even one from Leorio, who asked about Katsu as well. None from Kurapika, as he would have received my message from whoever was on phone duty.

At the end of the stream, I began typing my response.

 _Tricia: I'm fine, just ran into some complications._

Almost immediately, I was bombarded with responses.

 _Gon: The phone receiver said that you were unconscious!_

 _Killua: What happened?_

 _Gon: Were you attacked again?_

I began typing once more with a ghost of a smile.

 _Tricia: I got sent on mission where a few things happened. Nothing else._

 _Gon: When are you going to come back?_

 _Tricia: I don't know. You'd have to ask Kelsi._

 _Gon: Ok._

 _Killua: See you later, then._

With that, the two of them logged out, shortly followed by me. I let out a shaky breath that I didn't know I had been holding and set my phone back on the table that it had previously been. Gon and Killua were one weird pair of children, for one. I couldn't understand why they were so concerned for me; we had only talked during the Hunter Exam after all. Yes, I could understand not wanting an acquaintance to die, but I hardly knew Gon and Killua.

It seemed as though I would definitely not be able to meet Gon or Killua anytime soon, especially in my current condition. My combat prowess would mostly likely never be the same prior to Yuki's death, if the last time had taught me anything.

Even then, I felt as though something else was missing. Like part of me had suddenly disappeared.

 _...Whatever, though._ I thought, _It's probably not all that important._

 **An**

Annd, there comes the end of chapter 22. Whew that was one difficult chapter to write.

There will be 5 more chapters left with no planned Epilogue. You might be asking why there won't be a Epilogue, and you will kind of see why once you see the ending.

I might to a 5-8k prequel but nothing more than that. Maybe a handful of side stories and 'what if's as will, if I feel like it.

I won't say anything else about the ending, though.


	23. -Amendments and Vengeance-

Note: Now that Tricia only has one half of her previous soul and one fourth of her original, her personality has somewhat changed. The reason why the change from chapter 1 to 3 wasn't as obvious was because she had Yuki to influence her and eight years to get used to the change.

I've finally realized that this is supposed to be a Hunter X Hunter fanfic so this chapter will be mostly about Tricia sorting out her relationship with Gon and Killua. Mostly Killua.

 **I SOMEHOW DID NOT POST LAST TIME DUE TO SOME FREAK MISTAKE.**

 **THIS IS A DOUBLE UPDATE**

 ****

 **READ THE LAST CHAPTER FIRST**

 **Tricia's PoV**

 **The Next Day.**

"Tricia!" Gon exclaimed over the phone. After much debate, both of us had agreed to meet over the phone due to the war and realm restriction that was taking place. Kelsi has partially succeeded and failed on her quest of getting wifi into the realm, as we only received some phone signals. Both of us had spent the remainder of yesterday testing various areas for a strong enough connection to call each other.

Even now, I wasn't too sure why I had bothered with it though. Gon and Killua were supposed to stay ignorant of the situation but had learned of the Kaikos due to Kurapika's mishap.

"Yes?" I responded to Gon's outburst. The... dark-green haired boy had been especially excited to meet me after I had woken up. If I remembered correctly, Killua suspected me about Killuko's death and situation as well.

"How are things going?" Gon exclaimed, struggling to control his excitement. "I heard from Kurapika that you won't be able to meet us in person for another week or so, is that true?"

"...Yes, as least, if things go according to plan." If things didn't go according to plan and I was killed by a werewolf, then… well… we would cross that bridge when we came to it. "Unless Kelsi decides otherwise and changes the plan."

"I see!" Gon chirped, enthusiasm not affected at all by my somewhat depressing news. "Killua said that he wanted to talk to you about something as well."

"Hm?" I replied. Killua… He would most likely confront me about Killuko. Afterall, I doubt that his suspicion towards me would disappear in a matter of days.

"I'm passing the phone now!" Gon said, indistinguishable muffled sound following his statement.

 **Killua's PoV**

Killua did not know what to think of Tricia. Or Hawk. Or whatever name she went by.

They first met at the Hunter Exam, after she crashed into their room with a fiery explosion. At first, Killua didn't want to have anything to do with the bounty hunter. He had learned from his experience as an assassin that her kind was not to be messed with. He was an elite assassin, and she was a bounty collector. The last attempt he made to befriend one of them ended with a knife in his stomach.

But against his warnings, Gon approached her anyways.

And against his own will, he followed Gon. Killua was not about to let one of the few people that didn't judge him be killed by some class C fighter.

It was during then that Killua vaguely recognized the teenager. Something to do with his lost sister. Something to do with his numerous attempts to find her.

He wanted to know this person who shared the same blood with him, brave enough to defy their mother, brave enough to defy their father, brave enough to defy their family, name, profession and everything that came with it.

Braver than he could ever be.

He had seen the Hunter Exam as a way to escape, a light in the abyss that his sister might've followed as well. All that had crumbled when Illumi showed up and dyed the world a pitch-black red once more.

So when Gon has freed him from the Zoldyck estate, the enigma that was Tricia was constantly on his mind. No matter how he looked at it, she had information. Information related to his sister.

Killua wanted to ask her at Heaven's Arena, but the moment he was able to separate from Gon, Tricia had already disappeared.

Yorknew was chaos, between Greed Island and the Phantom Troupe, he couldn't find a way or time to track the bounty hunter down. When the two of them had received word of Tricia's disappearance, they had been too distraught to focus on creating their Hatsus, especially with Kurapika withholding information.

But now, he would have answers.

"Gon, I'd like to speak with Tricia in private." Killua said once his friend had given him the phone. As much as it pained him to shoot Gon off like that, he didn't exactly feel comfortable revealing his goal of finding his sister, especially if it turned out to be a false lead.

"Hello?" Killua spoke into the phone once the only door to the room closed shut.

"..Yes?" Tricia, responded, slightly more wary of the situation.

"Do you know my twin sister?" There was a brief silence between them as Killua held his breath, not knowing what kind of response that Tricia would give.

"...Yes." The bounty hunter said after the tense silence. Although Killua felt happy that Tricia had not been a false lead, there was something about her tone that made him to a double take. Uneasiness? Reluctance? "I was friends with her along with a few others, a few years back."

"How many years?" Killua demanded. His sister had deserted the family six years ago, six years of information to plow through. If he was able to narrow the margin by a few years, it would be a tremendous help. "What was her name?"

"I was friends with her three years ago." Tricia replied, voice growing more and more reluctant as she spoke. "Her name was Killuko, Killuko Zoldyck. She didn't desert her last name when she joined the Kaikos."

"She's part of the Kaikos?" Killua followed, somewhat amazed at the coincidence. Tricia was a member of the Kaiko clan as well. If he could speak to Tricia, then he would be able to talk to Killuko as well.

"...Yes." The Kaiko responded, Killua feeling the sense of unease once more. "You must've seen me when I went to the Zoldyck estate to deliver news of her death."

Killuko…

Killuko was dead?

Killua was silent for a moment, mourning for a sister that he never knew.

"...How?" Killua said. This time, he was the reluctant one.

"During a small retrieval mission near the end of the last werewolf war ." Tricia explained, a sense of ...distance? creeping into her voice. "There weren't any others that could go, so just the three of us went. Sakiris, Killuko, and me. We had to leave Killuko behind at one point; she was the only one that had a Hatsu that could delay the werewolves long enough."

"...Hatsu?" Killua murmured, hardly audible. Killuko would been only nine at that time. It was difficult to believe that his twin sister would be fighting off werewolves three years ago.

"Yes." The Kaiko responded. "Sakiris and I had evasive and defensive abilities ill suited for holding off the attackers, so we went ahead. We were ambushed by the same fighter that attacked me at the airport." Tricia didn't need to finish her statement for Killua to get how the mission ended. He had seen how powerful Tricia was along with the injury that she had suffered during the fight at the airport.

"What was Killuko's Hatsu?" Killua said, a new sense of purpose in his voice. Something in his wanted to avenge his sister, to fight for the same purpose that she died protecting. There had to be something that she had seen in the Kaikos, a glimmer of _something_ that made it all the worthwhile to fight a war.

Killua wanted to see the same thing that Killuko saw, three years ago when she defected.

He would not let the werewolves remember Killuko as the weakling that traitor that died alone. As her twin, he wanted to show them what she could've been.

And as her twin, he would give them the scare of a lifetime.

"The Raikori." Tricia explained. "A combination of electricity and ice. Do you plan to learn it?"

"Yes." Killua siad with renewed determination. He would return to the same battlefield, welding the same weapon as his sister.

"I… should be able to teach it to you." She stated, tripping over her words for a brief moment. "But weren't you and Gon going to Greed Island?"

"I'll figure something out." He said, planning to split off with Gon. Gon had his own goal to follow, to find his father. Killua had been accompanying Gon on his journey because of lack of other choices. Now, he had his own path to follow. His own goal to reach. "When can we meet up?"

"Kelsi-"

"Would there be a problem if I went there instead of the other way around?" Killua began, already having formlated a plan to get into the realm. "If information leakage is a problem, I could stay there for the remainder of the war." Tricia had only mentioned that she couldn't leave in case she would give away the location of the portals. He himself might be able to organize something to enter the realm. Whether or not he could leave was not a problem.

"That might work." Tricia said, "I'll contact Kelsi as soon as possible and text you when I have things sorted out on my end."

"Got it." The Zoldyck replied, hanging up.

The call had gone well, but there was something bothering him.

Tricia, had seem almost indifferent while recalling the events of the mission where his sister died. Almost… as if she had read the events somewhere and was simply relaying the information to him. There was no trace of a lie in her voice when Tricia said that she was friends with Killuko, or when Tricia said that she was on the mission.

If Killua remembered from the Hunter Exam, Tricia was a laid-back sarcastic person that spoke in a rather casual way. The Tricia that he had just talked with acted completely different from that. This Tricia was stoic, detached almost. She said everything in a a rather emotionless manner, almost as if she was living someone's life.

He knew that she had woken up from a coma of sorts yesterday, but he didn't think that 'detached from reality and acting completely out of character' was a symptom of waking up from a coma.

Well, either way, he still had Gon to confront.

 **-Line-**

 **Katsu's PoV**

 **Werewolf Main HQ**

"Soo…" Lennex drawled as he brushed off the surface of a book. "I think I found something."

Katsu peered over his shoulder, squinting to see through the dust in the air, Keiron holding off the remaining debris as dead werewolves littered the floor around them. "Yes, I think anything titled 'Abilities of all Werewolves' would be interesting."

"Do you think that the information would the accurate?" Keiron asked, raising his voice due the rather loud sound of rocks shattering against his shield.

"I can verify that." Katsu said, "We probably can't trust the information about Okami and his top generals regardless, but I know the abilities of a few of the werewolves. We can use the information I have to test the reliability of the book."

"I see…" Lennex responded, voice trailing off near the end. "Anyways, we should be glad that Okami wasn't here. Thank god that Kelsi was right when she said that."

"Agreed." Keiron replied, "We would but dead if she were wrong. Although, it's it strange that Kelsi took such a big risk?"

"You're right." Lennex said. With so few of the Kaikos left, Kelsi should have been much more careful with her ace units, Keiron and him. In the case that she had been wrong, the Kaikos would have no chance of surviving the war. Instead, the creator had taken a gamble and had them attack the werewolf base. "But what if… She wasn't taking a risk?"

"She wasn't taking a risk?" Katsu reiterated. "You mean, that Kelsi knew that Okami wouldn't be here?'

"Yes." Keiron confirmed. "With one her best team and only spy on the line, there's no way that Kelsi would've left it to chance."

"Hm…" Katsu said, slightly amused by the turn of events, "So that's the game that she's playing."

"And what exactly do you mean by that very vague and ominous statement?" Lennex said with a raised eyebrow.

Katsu scoffed as he remembered the events of a rather eventful day, namely one where he eavesdropped on a certain bounty hunter's message. "Nothing."

"Nothing always means something."

"Well, I kind of need to act like I got caught in an ambush so Keiron, please conveniently bury me under a pile of rubble. And Lennex, feel free to throw a few more explosives to kick up the dust again, it's starting to settle down and we wouldn't want any eye witnesses now, would we?"

Lennex shot him a glare as Katsu successfully evaded his question. Huh, maybe that 'plot armor' that the author mentioned did actually work. Afterall, he didn't actually think that the blonde would let him off so easily.

Katsu had half the mind to test the limits of this 'plot armor', but another part of him argued against it. There was something about trusting a lazy procrastinator that didn't sit well with him, especially since the Author seemed to get on the wrong side of the shadowy-figure-worker.

-Line-

AN

…..I don't know what to write, I probably should go finish that slideshow for Social Studies.

Ugh. I don't want to hear the words 'Contemporary Issues ever again.


	24. -Retaliation-

**Chapter 24**

"Killua Zoldyck. Killuko's twin brother." Kelsi said slowly, considering the various factors that surrounded this case. Tricia had approached her not too long ago, stating that Killua wanted to join the Kaikos and help in the war effort.

Speaking of additions, though, she had already accepted the previous bunch, Hikari and Kasai. Hopefully, Killua would prove to be as potentially useful as the twins were; the two were doing more than fine with the simple mission they had been given and were on their way to earning a place on the field.

Kelsi wasn't all that concerned about Killua's trustworthiness, but his ability instead. They were already nearing the end of the first week of war and if her information told her anything, the next two or so weeks would be brutal. Killua didn't even have a Hatsu yet, let alone sufficient experience to wield it properly. Even Killuko needed several months in order for Kelsi to even consider giving her average missions.

Killua might have the advantage of being older, but at the very least he'd need three weeks. At the end of the day, he might just be dead weight.

"Have you seen him fight?" Kelsi said, directing the questions to the hazel-haired Kaiko in front of her. Tricia nodded. Although most of her memories had been described as 'blurry' after waking up from her coma, Kelsi was sure that her former student would be able to give an accurate overview of Killua's abilities.

"Killua's speed and agility are his best traits, although his direct hand-to-hand combat seems to be lacking. He doesn't seem to have much fighting experience and tends to follow an assassin-type style of fighting. Overall, a decent fighter if he knew nen." The younger Kaiko explained, Kelsi nodding along as she began to explore the possible situation were Killua would be useful. He seemed to have a similar skillset as Takuya, so pairing them up would be quite interesting.

"Okay," Kelsi said, making up her mind with a sigh. "We're going to let him in and train under you until he learns Raikori. Don't tell him how Killuko used it; it would limit his own growth as a nen user. After he's got the basics down, maybe I'll let him tag along with Takuya and maybe Hikaoki for some simpler missions." Although it would take Killua three weeks for him to adjust his style to his Hatsu, his current assassin style with Raikori should suffice for him to survive a mission with Takuya.

"Got it," Tricia said, getting up. "I'll tell Killua about the news and bring him as soon as possible." With that, she left, closing the door behind her.

-Line-

 **Killua's PoV**

"You're leaving?" Gon said, surprised. Killua nodded.

"Tomorrow, to the Kaikos. I'll return after the war is finished." As heartbreaking it was for Killua to break off with Gon, he felt as though it was necessary and the best path for him. Killua had always followed behind Gon, always planned with his goal is mind. Now, that would change. "If you're still in Greed Island when I come back, I'll find a way to get in."

Gon paused for a moment, a somber look on his face. "You'll come back, right?"

"Don't worry," Killua replied, "I will."

-Line-

 **The Next Day**

Whatever Killua had previously thought of the Kaikos was thrown out of the window the moment Tricia brought him there.

First, _a Nen-created space_?! Killua would have never expected that, although it would explain the terrible signal; he was surprised that there was signal in the first place. It was an ideal hideout, and although space was limited, it was already huge.

Second of all, _Kaikos had silver blood and cat features?!_

"Silvery-red, to be precise." Tricia explained. "The idea that we had silver blood stems from the purified blood that was sold three years ago."

"Purified?..." There was a limitation of Kaiko blood?

"Normal Kaiko blood can only be used or mixed with compatible blood types. The purifying process takes the actual blood out so it can work for any blood type." Tricia explained. Killua understood the workings of the blood, but the cat features had seemed a little random, almost as if the author had tacked it on last minute (or was it the other way around?).

"I see," Killua said trailing off, starting to understand their situation. It was because of their blood that they were most likely being hunted right now, as it had crazy healing capabilities.

" _It's the fresh meat."_ A girl's voice whispered behind him, sending chills up his spine.

"What the ac-" Killua began, turning around. he was distracted shortly after by the barrage of pink that flew into him from that direction.

"Your reflexes are too slow!" The pink-haired girl complained. Killua was very confused when in the next second, he was up in a tree. "Waaay too slow! And what's up with your hair? It reminds me of-..." The pinkette stopped for a moment, glancing at Tricia's somewhat surprised expression and Killua's very surprised one.

"He's Killuko's twin brother, Killua Zoldyck." Tricia explained. The pinkette stopped for a moment, letting Killua escape from her clutches. "He came to help out with the war and to learn Raikori."

"I see," The girl said, trailing off but then regaining her previous composure. "Welp, you've got some hard training ahead of you, so try not to die!" She finished while ruffling his hair. At some point or other, she had somehow appeared next to him.

Although his first instincts were to write off the pink-haired girl as some weak side character, there was something about the way she moved that kept Killua on high alert. Even though he lived his entire life alongside some of the best assassins, no matter how hard he tried, he simply could not see the girl's movements.

"My name's Alice by the way." The girl said offhandedly, "Nice to meetcha, Killua."

"Same." Killua replied. For now, he would ask Tricia about Alice's speed. From what he had seen from her fight with Hisoka, she was pretty fast as well.

"Kelsi wants to meet you first," Tricia said, leading him toward the center of the nen-created space. Kelsi Lukkel… His parents had said their fair share of insults toward her, which made plenty of sense as Killuko had ran off with her. "I'll start teaching you the Raikori after that."

-Line-

"I'm going to cut to the chase," Kelsi said the moment he sat down. Tricia seemed to expect this response, although Killua himself was a tad surprised. "To make it clear, there is no way in the seven seas that you will be on the front line. If you do manage to make it on the field, it will be with a Council member and someone else protecting you."

"... _What?_ " Killua exclaimed. He had plenty of fighting experience from Trick Tower, so why was get going to be taking a backseat? He could probably learn the Raikori in a matter of days as well.

"Even if you have experience in combat, you have _zero_ experience with nen users or werewolves," Kelsi explained. "Werewolves are different from humans. They shape-shift according to the amount of nen they have used, growing more and more unstable and powerful as they change. There is no way a newbie without Kaiko heritage will be able to last in a fight against one of them."

"So have I come here for nothing?" Killua said, holding back his emotions as Kelsi went on. Killuko fought in the war, Tricia confirmed that. If so, why couldn't he?

"Which is why," Kelsi explained, "You will be working with Tricia as an assassin unit."

"Huh?" Killua started, confused for a moment and then regaining his composure. "So I'm going to be involved in the war?"

"Yes." Kelsi said with an amused half-smirk, "Did you think I would pass the opportunity to confuse the hell out of some werewolves with a twin?"

"Oh god…" Tricia sighed, almost burrowing into her hoodie, "Don't tell me-"

"Would you be interested in cross-dressing?" Kelsi said, now very amused. Killua did not know what to think. Was a two-star Hunter, a legacy among blacklist hunters, seriously asking him to dress up as his sister? "You do look a lot like Killuko actually; you just need to grow out your hair a little and put it in a ponytail."

"He does actually," Tricia said, piping up for the first time after her half-attempt of shutting off the world. "If you tried to gel down your hair along with wearing gloves and leg warmers, I might actually mistaken you for her."

"Wow… thanks." Killua responded half-heartedly as he sulked over his wounded pride. "Wait, gel down my hair?" Both Kelsi and Tricia nodded in response.

"Killuko's mom forced her to grow her hair out, so when she joined, the first thing she did was cut her hair. It was fine until the next day; her hair had poofed up similarly to yours, except not as much. Killuko tried to gel it down, but it only worked to some extent." Tricia elaborated, drawing back on memories from three years ago. "At the end of the day, she just put in a ponytail."

"I see.." Killua said, taking it into consideration. "So can I get away with just a ponytail?" Best case scenario, he wouldn't have to wear a skirt. To be completely honest, he would probably die before being forced into one.

Thankfully, Kelsi nodded.

-Line-

 **Later**

"So if I'm right, " Tricia began, pacing back and forth in the clearing. "You already know how to transmute electricity."

"Yes," Killua said, thankful that he had learned that ahead of time. "So I have to learn how to transmute ice now?"

"Correct." She said, stopping in front of him and taking out a pocket watch and pulling a mini cooler out of nowhere. "To make things faster, I'm going to use my Hatsu to slow down your perception of time. I used this tactic when learning how to transmute as well, so it should work."

"Huh, I see." Now, Killua was even more interested about Tricia's Hatsu. She hadn't really mentioned it before now, except when she used it to blow up the walls in Trick Tower. Previously, he had thought that Tricia was a Transmuter, like him, but changing someone's perception of time really didn't seem like a Transmuter ability.

"Ok," Tricia said, tossing the cooler to him. "You'll probably need that."

"Ah, thanks," Killua replied, looking inside and finding it full of ice. "By how much will you be increasing my perception of time?"

"Eh, maybe two-three times to begin with, just so you can get used to it first. In a few hours we'll take a break and maybe do four times, depending on how things go." Tricia explained, elaborating on her plan and checking her pocket watch. "We have ten hours until tomorrow, so that's around 30-40 hours of training. Should be enough for you to learn transmuting ice."

Almost as soon as Tricia finished, time slowed down. His movements seemed slower, but his mind was just as fast. Once Tricia sat down and began reading some sort of book, his training began.

-Line-

Two hours later, Killua wanted to flop down on the ground and die.

"That. Was. Not. Four. Hours." Killua said as he practically inhaled water.

"It wasn't," Tricia replied. "Or even six, for that matter. I actually slowed down time for you by five. Congratulations, you just went through ten hours of solid training.

Killua glared at Tricia from behind a sandwich. "Even so, there's something that I found rather strange." He began, "Although my time was slowed down by 500%, my movements were only slowed down by a little."

"That's because you were making yourself move faster than you do normally," She explained. "Normally you don't move as fast."

"I see," Killua replied, "That does make sense."

"Oh, and by the way, I'll be increasing the speed to ten times now."

"...You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope."

-Line-

 **Sometime later**

And thus was the story of how Killua learned to transmute ice in six hours.

Which brings us to now.

"Oh god- WAIT YOU HAVE A SECOND SWORD?!" Killua practically screamed as Tricia whipped out her sheathed wakizashi.

The next step in Killua's training was to increase his efficiency with his Hatsu. Namely surviving Tricia's attacks with nothing but his ice. In order to prevent him from simply running around, both of them had to stay inside a 2-meter radius circle.

Although this seemingly ruthless and child-abusive technique appeared to be training Killua solely in the art of evasive maneuvers as such, it was also a chance for Tricia to check and improve her swordsmanship as well. Getting your soul split in half did tend to mess up your memories, so it was a good opportunity for Tricia to train herself back to her former self.

"You're getting better," Trica noted as Killua barely blocked a particularly vicious blow with his ice. "Shall I use Timelapse on myself?"

" _No."_ Killua insisted, starting to feel numerous bruises forming on his body. This training was as difficult, but not as difficult compared to the training that he faced at the Zoldyck family estate. It was certainly done differently as well. This training seemed to be designed to improve his skill in a short period of time by overwhelming him and forcing him to adapt, while the kind he was used to mostly trained his endurance.

"If you say so," Tricia said with a shrug, secretly activating Timelapse anyways. Killua's assassin reflexes were beginning to show in his style of handling his ice. While Killuko used it in more simple upfront ways, Killua opted to use it in more stealthy ways. He would cloak his arm in ice, forming a much stronger block than normal nen could.

There was no doubt that Killua would become a strong fighter. His assassin capabilities and the Raikori would combine into a fearsome combo.

"Hey, Killua." Tricia said, speaking up."Why don't you use your electricity as well? May as well train that too."

Without hesitation, lighting began to crackle around the ice that he would transmute. Their training continued on as before; Tricia changing strategies to keep Killua at a distance and limiting the time her swords would spend on his ice.

It wasn't before long before Killua found a new way to use his electricity. His entire body crackled with lighting as he began to speed up immensely.

In return, Tricia doubled the rate of her Timelapse. Needless to say, the two of them made plenty of progress that particular day.

-Line-

 **A Few Days Later**

 **Still Killua's PoV**

"So, you're the new kid." The cloaked man said, looking down at Killua. The girl standing behind him did nothing but make the assassin feel more outclassed. Her amber eyes seemed to bore into his soul, slowly taking apart what they saw piece by piece and then putting them back together when she deemed him worthy. "My name's Takuya, by the way. The person behind me is Hikaoki, she's my partner. Look forward to working with you."

"Same." Killua responded just about as confidently as he could. Living in a family of assassins was one thing, but working with people that simply unnerved him was another.

Although, Hikaoki's eyes did remind him of a certain bounty hunter's… _Maybe it was Kaiko genetics?_ Kilua wondered, mentally comparing Tricia's hazel hair and green eyes to Hikaoki's reddish-brown/black hair and amber eyes.

He was inclined to think that it was due to their clan heritage, but none of the other Kaikos that he had seen so far had eyes similar to theirs. So, were they possibly cousins? Their skin tones seemed to match as well.

"If I remember correctly, you are Killuko's twin, Killua." Takuya continued. Killua nodded in response.

"I've learned the Raikori as well, thanks to Tricia." The silver-haired assassin stated. Both Takuya and Hikaoki seemed to take this into consideration,

"Up for a small mission?" Takuya offered. A cat-like grim spread over Killua's face.

" _Yes._ "

-Line-

 **AN**

Soooo, Ahahahahaha

Stuff happened.

Namely school and a suprise extra shift.

In return, this chapter is kind of longer.

Kinda.

See you on the 15th an thanks to Kashiko Rivatyl.


	25. -Amongst the Red-

**Chapter 25**

Tricia's PoV

According to both Killua and Takuya, the test mission had gone decently well. Killua's Raikori had meshed well with Takuya and Hikaoki's Hatsu, the three proving to be a fearsome combo.

"Trica, let me ask you something." Killua said after describing the events of the mission. " _How does your clan move at an impossible speed?"_

It seemed as though the assassin had been awed by Takuya's impressive movement speed.

"Well, being a Kaiko definitely helps." I replied, "Kaikos are built for speed, unlike you humans that are built for endurance and durability."

"Hm?" Killua inquired, already intrigued.

"We're built to be lighter than the average human, which makes us faster but a lot more easier to injure. Kaiko blood makes up for this, though." I said. This was also the reason why none of the Kaikos fought hand-to-hand. Everyone either used weapons or nen, since punching someone could literally break our fingers.

"I see…" He commented, mulling over my mini-biology lesson. "So if I punched you right now…"

"You would very likely break a bone, yes."

Killua nodded in understanding. "But your Kaiko blood would heal it over while using your nen."

"Yep."

Killua took this into consideration. "Ah, so none of you do direct hand-to-hand." I nodded.

Although this conversation was rather random, it was necessary to cover some plot holes and inform the readers why the Kaikos are not OP or a Mary Sue race. Thank you.

-Line-

 **Hikaoki's PoV**

 **Hehehehe remember the Gate-Key thing from the Cultivation arc?**

"All the keys are gathered." Hikaoki stated, looking over several papers. "When should I plan for departure?"

Takuya glaced out of the window with his Ravin eye, then recalling the message the Author had left for him. "After Okami is defeated. We will need your help in the final fight."

"Understood." Hikaoki replied. The eight year project was coming to an end.

And hopefully, this war would not end in another massacre. What lay beyond the gates that Shadow had described, she didn't know. "Shadow has mentioned a mass wipe of memory once the ritual was completed. No ties will be left lose through this method."

"I assume that no one will remember you?"

"That is the expected."

There was a moment of comfortable silence as Hikaoki shuffled through some papers. Hikaoki felt a sense of nostalgia, almost. Not quite… though, to be honest. That sense was confused on how to feel as much as her.

If Hikaoki had to compare it, it was almost like death, although much less ominous. She didn't know what would lay beyond the gates of the ritual, and neither did Shadow. What she did know was that it would be very unlikely for her to ever set foot in this world ever again. Even if she did, nobody would remember her.

That besides, it was still far too early to begin worrying about the ritual. Okami still had to be defeated, and if the message Takuya had received was correct, there would be a second enemy lurking in the darkness.

-Line-

 **Tricia's PoV**

 **A Week Later**

According to the results of both her and Killua's training, both of the should be battle-worthy. Her swordsmanship was still good and Killua's Raikori was satisfactory. Her Hatsu would be limited to Timelapse, but that didn't bother her as much as she thought it would.

Timelapse had always been her strongest and signature move, after all.

About the seven swords, most of them were impossible for here to use anymore. The only ones left were number three, Hunter's Bane and number four. The fact that she could still use number four didn't really surprise her, though. She had originally created it as an extremely last-minute option with one limitation.

'Number four can only be used once.'

If the fight with Okami went downhill, she would use number four as a means to bring him down.

"Tricia?" KIllua said, almost appearing out of nowhere. He had a stack of papers in hand, most likely the ones that Takuya had given him in order to bring him up to touch with the events surrounding the Kaikos. "I have a question about something."

"What is it?" Tricia asked.

"It's about Cheriko, the Blood Reaper that participated in the Phantom Troupe issue." He explained. "It says in her file that she has the ability to manipulate blood along with reanimating dead bodies able to use their Hatsu, is that correct?"

"Yeah," Tricia replied, remembering the bloody scene and the dried husks of once-living people that she had left at the Ten Don's meeting place. She certainly have the title of 'Blood Reaper' for nothing. "What about her?"

"Well," Killua began, "It says here that she can only reanimate bodies in good condition, and that her normal style of fighting results in a destroyed body. That was the one flaw in her nearly perfect Hatsu. The thing that's bothering me, is that there is no indication of any of the bodies that she's already collected. She could bypass her one weakness with a reanimated body."

"I see…" Tricia responded. She was starting to see his concern now. Cheriko had never revealed any of her other collected bodies other than her two signature katana-wielding ones. Taking her fearsome reputation and record into consideration, there was no doubt that she had collected quite a few powerful nen users. "Even so, Cheriko shouldn't be able to do anything. She doesn't have access to this realm that were currently trapped in. Even if you assumed that she somehow got into this realm, the Council would be able to fend her off."

"Hm, so that's how it is." Killua replied, his mind wandering off. "When do you think the war will be over?"

"The war…" This was something Tricia had to think about. It was quite difficult to say, to be honest. Werewolf activity wouldn't stop the moment they defeated Okami, similarly to how the Kaikos wouldn't stop even if Kelsi was killed in battle. The werewolves would most likely cease activity for while in order to replace their leader as fast as possible, but otherwise she couldn't see an end until they pressured them to surrender. The chances of that, where far from likely. "This war will probably end when we prove to them that we can't be defeated without a large loss on their end." Tricia finished.

"The Hunter Association would probably finish them off easily if they were weaken that badly, right?" Killua wondered out loud, Tricia nodding at his response.

"Netero's already helping us by defending some key locations and providing us with any information that we might need. If he did anymore, it would alert all the hunters in the world about his involvement and the Kaiko's existance. If that happens, we'll just have more enemies to defend from."

There was an unspoken question in the air, although neither of them brought it up.

"Do we really stand a chance against the werewolves?"

-Line-

 **Kelsi's PoV**

The Kaikos were in a tricky situation, that was for sure. The interesting this was, Takuya's mysterious source only seemed to care about Okami's defeat, nothing else.

That only meant one thing to Kelsi: Only Okami's death matters, nothing else. The Author had control over their fate. Although he/she couldn't couldn't make the impossible possible, the Author was already pulling strings in the Kaiko's favor.

And whoever this 'Author' was saw that defeating Okami was the only way out of this darkness.

And it would be up to Kelsi to interpret how to go about doing it.

"So that's what the Author sees…" The leader said, looking over all of the information that she had been given. The werewolves wouldn't be able to operate offensively when they were deciding on their next leader. They had a system much more complex than the Kaiko's due to their large size, a system that requires much more time to operate.

So, the Kaikos would have to run in that short time frame. They would have to return to their motherland that they had rejected for so long. The same motherland that had abandoned them. Kelsi would have previously thought that there was no way that they would accept them back, that they would have to resort to something else.

But before she got ahead of herself, she had to plan Okami's defeat first.

"Takuya, Tricia, and me." Kelsi muttered under her breath. "Why Tricia though?..."

-Line-

 **Cheriko's PoV**

The golden time was coming.

It was near, oh so very near.

"Okami-kun~" She purred into the phone, a malicious smile spreading ovre her face.

"Stop calling me that." Okami shot back, static slightly clouding his words. "When's Kelsi going to attack?"

"Why should I tell you?" Cheriko chirped, now with a happy-go-lucky smile while she swung her leg back and forth. "You haven't completed your side of the deal yet."

"I sent you the information that I have about Kelsi, isn't that what we agreed on?" Okami replied, irritated with the Blood Reaper. Cheriko continued smiling.

"Fine…" The pinkette pouted, "Kelsi's going to attack you tomorrow, how about that?"

"I see." Okami replied sharply. "Anything else."

"Nope." Cheriko siad, popping the 'p'. After all, there was a limit to how much information that she could obtain from her low position in the Kaikos. She wasn't even allowed in the realm, for pete's sake!

But, none of that really mattered to her. Tomorrow, everything would be okay. All of the work that she had put in for the past eight years would come back to her, tomorrow.

All that time she spent hunting down the best of the best nen users to add them to her collection, all that time would be worth it.

"But Okami~" Cheriko whined once more, standing up in the night breeze, looking down at her newly-obtained bodies. "Are you sure that I have strong enough puppets?"

"You have plenty of them.": Okami said, annoyed at Cheriko's antics. "Besides, didn't you just obtain the assassins from the Zoldyck family?"

"Yep!" Cheriko chirped, the fresh blood creeping to her feet.

In front of her lay the bodies of Silva and Illumi Zoldyck.

-Line-

Killua's PoV

After reading through the extensive files that Takuya had given him, Killua wasn't up for much.

But even so, he somehow found his way to the news feed on his phone.

 **Is the prime minister possessed?**

 **Goat gets elected as mayor.**

 **Protesters speak out against raising taxes**

"Do people have anything else to do nowadays?" Killua muttered as he swiped past an article about someone with a Tetris fetish. "

It wasn't before long, however, that his news feed refreshed. This time, there was a new article in the headlines.

 **Mysterious pool of blood is found in front of the Zoldyck manor**

Killua's blood ran cold as he tapped on the article with shaking fingers.

 **According to tourist Mary Lee, she found the mysterious pool of blood in front of the Zoldyck manor at around 10 pm tonight.**

" **I've never seen anything like it before." Mary said with a shaky voice. "One moment I was looking for my missing phone, the next I was looking at a pool of red."**

 **The Zoldycks have refused to reveal anything about this incident, leaving us to wonder who that blood belongs to.**

" **I just hope that is wasn't a poor passerby," Mary continued. "We all know-**

Killua stopped reading, flicking downward until he found a photo of the scene.

The picture was dark and it was difficult to discern the details in the blood, but amongst the red, Killua was able to discern a strand of hair.

A silvery-blond one.

Killua paled as he recognized that color of hair. After all, it was too similar to his own.

His father had been killed. Silva Zoldyck was no longer in this world.

And the worst part was, Killua didn't know how to feet about it.

-Line-

An

Yes, go ahead and shoot me. This chapter was difficult to write as I has put it down as a blank during my planning, which, of course, is not a good idea.

Guess what? Only two more chapters until Illusion is finished. Wowsies. Kudos to me


	26. -Conquest of the Bloodied-

**Chapter 26**

The next day, Kelsi announced that we would be launching the raid to kill Okami.

In three hours.

'The members that will participate in the mission are the following:' Kelsi began, 'Takuya, Hikaoki, Akiryuu...' She began listing several of the strongest fighters, all top nen users that were powerful in their own right. While they weren't Council-level fighters, they would definitely be useful in the raid. "...Tricia, and me."

"Huh?!" I exclaimed, taken aback by Kelsi's choice. Even at my best, I had only been an average fighter. There was no doubt that I was worse than my previous self.

"So I'm not going." Killua said, slightly disappointed. "Although, isn't it strange that she didn't take some of the other fighters?"

"Wait," I responded. Killua did have a point. This would be the turning point in the war. If Kelsi could take down Okami, then we could get a chance to turn around our position in the war. In this case, she should have taken all of her strongest fighters. The thing was, she had left behind Lennex and Keiron, the Kaiko's strongest combo, and Luna, the scout with the highest kill count in the last war. "You're right."

"Is there something else that Kelsi is looking out for?" Killua thought out loud. "What could drive Kelsi to leave two Council members behind?"

"I'm not too sure," I replied. This combined with Kelsi's extremely last minute announcement of the mission had to mean something. Although, I wasn't as if we could find out what it was. Whatever Kelsi had to hide, it had to be for a good reason. "We'll have to find out once the mission starts."

"In three hours it is." Killua said, leaning back in his chair. There was a moment of silence as we began to mentally prepare ourselves for the events that were to come.

Hopefully, things would turn out okay.

Hopefully, no one would have to die.

And hopefully, my idealistic wishes would come true.

 **Three Hours Later**

"Okami-kun~" Cheriko chirped into the phone, the werewolf leader choosing to ignore Cheriko's antics.

"What is it." Okami shot back. "I'm already opening the portal Kelsi's realm."

"I see~" A malicious smile spread over Cheriko's face as she saw the portal open in front of her. "Bye-bye~"

The phone call was cut when the Blood Reaper stepped into the portal, the world melting away as she stepped into a nen-created realm.

When the world was steady once again, beautiful green fields lay before her. There was a serenity to this place that was so familiar, yet foreign to the killer.

As Cheriko spun around to survey the area, all she confirmed was that this realm was truly a parasite. With bright forests and clean fresh air, she definitely wouldn't mind if she had to stay here for a couple of weeks. It was a nice break from the city's harsh blinding sounds and lights and the polluted air that made her sick to the stomach

In the distance, the Blood Reaper spied a handful of figures, Kaikos, walking around, not doing much. There couldn't have been more than two dozen of them, with maybe another seven or so blocked from her view.

"Too bad that I have to destroy all of this…" Cheriko pouted, unfurling a scroll that contained all of the bodies that she collected. "Oh well, I'll be able to go back home soon anyways~"

With a flick of her hand, the limp corpses on the floor shuddered to life. They jerked upright in awkward movements, Cheriko frowning as she accustomed to controlling the large amount of bodies.

"I've gotten rusty." She noted as the bodies finally began to stabilize. "I used to be able to control twice this amount with no problem… Oh well! It should be enough to take down two dozen Kaikos."

There was a moment as Cheriko felt a subtle nen presence dart toward her. She suddenly jerked her hands upward, causing one of her puppets to form a wall.

"Now~ Who might this-" Cheriko began, only to be interrupted.

"Abyssal Prison!" One, no two, unknown voices cried in sync. Layer upon layer of water and fire surrounded the Blood Reaper.

"So it's you two~..." Cheriko chirped, completely unfazed by the water that surrounded her. This time, though, her eyes had a different look to them. Something unstable, yearning, and wanting to _kill_ was beginning to show.

"Why don't we play together?~" The Blood Reaper purred with a sweet, innocent voice. "Hikari~chan, Kasai~kun?"

 **-Line**

 **Tricia's PoV**

There was one question that was on my mind when Kelsi had brought me along to the mission, that question had only been amplified even further when she began dividing the roles among us.

"Takuya, Tricia and I will be taking Okami down," Kelsi announced to the group. There were some looks of confusion, as I was always one of the average fighters, but they dispersed as quickly as they started up. "Akiryuu will be leading the invasion."

Immediately, Akiryuu began announcing the strategy that she and Kelsi had agreed upon, grouping each person into small groups. Hikaoki would be grouped with a sniper and taking down one of the top fighters, which explained why she wouldn't be tagging along with us.

"Tricia." Takuya said, walking up to me in the small crowd of Kaikos. "I assume that you can still use Timelapse similar to before?"

"Yes," I replied, although with some doubt in my other abilities. "I've confirmed at least that."

"That's good…" Takuya answered, trailing off into thought. The way he spoke suggested that he had planned for the situation that I wouldn't be able to use TImelapse like before, which raised some serious questions. Timelapse was my only ability that could possibly attract any attention from the higher ranked Kaikos. If Takuya and Kelsi were prepared to bring me along even if I couldn't use it, why in the world were they bringing me along in the first place?

"How are we going to draw Okami out?" I asked, it wasn't as if he didn't know about our intentions of killing him, after all, he was the leader of the werewolves. It would seem rather stupid to assume that he would just charge out of his headquarters waving a knife.

"Okami knows that we're going to find him no matter what since we have the advantage with my Ravin eye. If he knows that he's going to end up fighting us no matter what, then he'll opt for ambushing us in order to give him the advantage in the fight." Takuya explained. Of course though, it would be difficult to ambush us with Takuya constantly keeping track of our surroundings. Most likely, he would pop out of a portal in order to surprise us.

"I see…" I responded, still not too sure why I was part of their groups. It was a bit intimidating to be fighting alongside the top two fighters in the Kaiko clan. At the very least, I hoped that I wouldn't perform embarrassingly badly. "So that's how it is."

' _Hey, guys!'_ Kelsi called out telepathically to the both of us. ' _We're going to charge from the side shortly after Akiryuu goes in. Which is…'_ There was a moment as an explosion resonated throughout the air. ' _Now.'_

Takuya sighed as he somehow teleported the both of us next to Kelsi, his eye flashing silver. There was a brief pause as both of them telepathically communicated, and then we set off running.

 **-Line-**

 **Killua's PoV**

"There's an invasion?!" He exclaimed as he sprung up from his seat. No way, had this been the reason why Kelsi had left him and so many others behind?

...Hopefully, Kelsi had been joking about the cross-dressing. That seemed to be the case.

"Yes," Rina answered. "Hikari and Kasai, my younger twin siblings, are already holding back some of the invaders. Although, there are some peculiar circumstances to this invasion."

"What do you mean?" Killua responded, eye narrowing. It wasn't every day that something strange happened, especially with invasions, which were usually pretty straightforward. "Who's attacking."

"Cheriko Himura," Rina replied. ...Cheriko? Killua knew that there was something off about her, especially with the overpowered Hatsu of hers. "She's reanimated most of the Phantom Troupe; Feitan, Bonolenov, Machi, Shalnark, Nobunaga, Phinks, even Chrollo."

"What!?" Killua said. With so many of them, it would be difficult to fend her off. Now, Kelsi's choice to leave behind Lennex and Keiron made more sense. They would definitely need them if they were to protect the weaker Kaikos.

In the distance, there was a sudden flash of nen.

"...Who else did she reanimate?" Killua asked with a sneaking suspicion. If that nen was from the person that he thought it was from, then… he didn't know what he would do.

"Silva and Illumi Zoldyck," Rina stated. Killua paled as his suspicions were confirmed. Illumi was there. "Luna's currently engaging Silva, and Lennex is taking Chrollo on. It would be best if you could fight Illumi, especially since you are already familiar with his techniques and attacks."

Even after learning the Raikori, Killua still had some doubt about facing Illumi once more. Sure, now he knew nen and was much stronger than before, but the fear that had been so heavily imprinted onto him was telling him otherwise.

"I'll do it." Killua replied, more out of guilt than anything. He knew that he wouldn't only ever be a liability for the Kaikos, and the fact that Kelsi still let him join was a favor that he could probably never return.

Rina nodded, somewhat relieved that he had agreed to take on Illumi. "I'll do my best to help you as well from the sidelines. I probably won't be able to do much, though."

Killua was thankful for the blind girl's help. He admired and was somewhat envious of Rina's determination to never be useless, something that Killua really did need to learn. He needed to stop running away from the unknown, needed to face his fears head-on.

"Where's Illumi?" Killua asked, sealing his fate and standing up. Rina paused for a moment as she tried to find Illumi's location.

"Follow me." Rina stated, setting off in the direction of the fighting. Killua followed after her, trailing into the darkness.

-Line-

Killua froze the moment he saw Illumi.

This was not a puppet of his older brother. It was Illumi that was standing in from of him. The way his empty eyes bore into his soul, the way his oppressive Ren focused on him. There was no mistaking that.

"Killua!" Rina exclaimed, shaking him out of his fear. "He's going to attack!"

At the waring, Killua began using Raikori purely by instinct, forming a partial shield of ice blocked the needles that Illumi had thrown at him. Rina began attacking as well, setting up an elaborate wire trap to ensnare the Zoldyck.

Before long, his brother began charging at Killua. There was a brief moment when Killua hesitated before blocking his attack, causing him to come dangerously close to losing the fight.

Explosions sounded across the clearing, shaking the floor and causing Illumi to stumble backward.

Killua took a quick glance to the source of the explosion, Lennex and Chrollo's fight.

It was clear who was winning, and Lennex's bloodied arm certainly did not swing the fight to his advantage. The others were struggling as well, Luna had taken her fair share of blows against Silva, and Hikari and Kasai's attacks seemed to have little to no effect against Cheriko's twin fighters.

Killua threw a fearful jab his older brother, who easily evaded his poor attempt at an attack.

There were several moments as he tried to attack, only to falter at the last moment and cause his attack to be intercepted by Illumi.

His overwhelming desire to run definitely didn't help. The fact that it gnawed at his very being, clawing its way into his soul and mind. The sense to _run_ clouded his ability to think and fight properly.

He could think of nothing but the struggle to stay focused on the fight.

The nagging in his head only grew perpetually stronger as he continued to fight against it.

He could actually die in this fight, there was no way Illumi would hold back against him.

He might just end up dragging the others behind, distracting them from their vital fights against the enemy.

Rina would probably be much more useful alongside someone like Luna, though.

 _Wasn't he just dragging them down?_

"Killua!" Rina called out to him, drawing his attention to her voice. She took over the fight briefly, channeling her own nen in order to create pillars and wire traps to keep Illumi on edge. "Cheriko is weakening, it seems as though maintaining this amount of strong puppets takes a toll on her as well."

"...Huh?" Killua answered in a daze. The temporary relief from his mental struggle was a breath of fresh air, saving him from the feeling of drowning in Illumi's immense aura.

There was a brief moment of clarity when everything was finally put to focus.

His forehead. That was where the fear was coming from.

Without hesitation, Killua reached up to head and felt for something, anything. At first, he almost missed it, but soon he realized what Illumi had done.

His brother had planted a needle into his forehead. A needle to make sure that he would run from every fight that he wasn't sure if he could win.

Killua ripped that needle out.

The feeling of relief that followed it was nothing compared to the pain from the wound. His head was no longer clouded, and he could finally focus n the fight instead of battle his own fear.

"Raikori!" He cried as he charged at his brother, electricity coursing through his veins. No, this was not Illumi, but a reanimation of his once-living body. There was nothing to fear, as only an empty husk lay before him.

The puppet moved to intercept his attack, but was instantly frozen over the moment he touched Killua. Without a sliver of hesitation, he pushed hundred of watts of electricity into the frozen corpse, fryinits's insides to that point where it could no longer move and Cheriko was forced to relinquish control of Illumi.

The corpse's eyes went dim as it should, finally collapsing on the ground.

"How are the rest of the fights going?" Killua asked Rina as she kept track of Cheriko's advances via En. The blind sensor wasn't able to do much, but she was trying to help out wherever she could.

"Well." Rina announced. Killua gave a sigh of relief, happy that they would be able to fight off the invasion. "Although, we should be worried about the people on the mission. It is very possible that they don't have enough fighters due to the amount that Kelsi had to leave behind."

"The mission…" Killua said under his breath. Tricia was on that mission on well, fighting Okami and his army alongside a handful of other Kaikos. "I hope that they're okay."

 **Tricia's PoV**

Takuya was proved to be right when he said that Okami would ambush us.

Out of nowhere, portals began popping up all over the place, Takuya's eyes narrowed as he tried to sense which one Okami would appear from but to no avail. I began activating TImelapse and unsheath my sword, preparing for the moment that Okami would appear.

"So there's three of you…" Okami's voice said, his voice emanating from all of the portals that he has set up. The three of use immediately tensed up, bracing for battle. "I see.."

As soon as Okami finished his statement, he suddenly appeared in front of us. Takuya activated his own Hatsu and Kelsi opened portals of her own in the sky.

There was a brief moment as either side attacked, both parties seizing up the other and formulating an attack strategy. There were no words exchanged between us, only the quiet hum of Ren could be heard in the air.

It was Okami who made the first move.

Takuya intercepted his attack. Kelsi began opening numerous portals, but strangely enough, none of them were able to do anything. It was then that Takuya switched onto the offense, keeping the werewolf leader on the run.

It seemed as though we had gained the upper hand, quite quickly, that was. As soon as I thought that, Okami formed portals around him, forcing Takuya back.

Then things, once again, turned to a standstill as we stared at each other for a while. Kelsi tried to open her portals again, but she was unable to.

Wasn't Okami's Hatsu similar to Kelsi? If so, why was he able to prevent Kelsi from using her's? Although, it should be impossible to use two Hatsus at once. When Okami was stopping Kelsi from using her portals, he shouldn't be able to use his own either.

Once I confirmed my theory, I needed to figure out what to do. It wasn't like I could charge in with Takuya, afterall, I would only slow him down.

But, what if I lured Okami to me, and then use Timelapse to attack him with my wakizashi first?

It could work, afterall, a similar strategy had injured Hisoka and Shalnark, along with many others.

So, I lunged at Okami for the first time. He intercepted my first blow, which I followed with another.

There was no questions that he was much better and faster than me, he had survived Takuya, of course.

Chaos was thrown into the equation though, when I purposefully faltered before a lunge.

Okami saw that falter.

The world slowed as Okami zoned in on me. Everything was paused mid-air as I could see nothing but the werewolf leader's outstretched hand to end my existence.

And at the present moment, my hand closed around the hilt of my other sword.

I could see the moment of realization and horror on Okami's face mid-lunge as he could see the blade that was about to bury itself into his body. There was no time for him to react, as he was far too off balanced to dodge and my blade was far too close.

Almost.

The moment of despair as Okami warped just in time, he appeared behind me to twist the sword out of my hand and yank my other arm behind my back, it all was far too much to set in at once.

The feeling of _checkmate_ as he slammed the final decisive piece down on the board, it all overwhelmed me in the final moments of the battle.

"Move and she dies." Those words echoed across the rooftop, leaving nothing but the wind to fill the silence of sheer defeat.

 _Is this how it ends?_ I thought, as Takuya's silver eye flickered back to brown.

 _Is this how the Kaikos will go down?_ I thought as the portals in the sky disappeared, one by one.

 _Is this, how their legacies will be remembered?_

 _._

 _._

 _.._

 _..._

 _No._

 _ **I refuse to accept this ending.**_

 _ **I refuse to accept this reality.**_

"Reaper's Curse."

As soon as I uttered those words, a black substance marterlized in my hand, shifting to viciously stab Okami.

"What the…" He hissed, covering his wound with a hand. Reaper's Curse continued to form into a multitude of weapons, each one more gruesome than the previous one.

Without hesitation, I let the sword guide my movements, shifting into whatever weapon was best suited for that particular attack. Takuya joined in on the fray, giving Okami a fair share of knife wounds.

There was one moment, one moment when Okami faltered and stumbled backwards, giving me the opportunity to end him, once and for all.

In that same moment, there was a flicker and then he was gone.

"He… disappeared?" Kelsi said, staring at the empty place where Okami had once been. Only a small pool of blood had been left behind, a reminder of how close we had come to killing him.

I gasped for a moment as I began to feel the effects of Reaper's Curse. Although the weapon was immensely powerful, it still required a hefty amount of nen to operate. With a flick of my hand, I dispelled the sword and immediately felt the relief of not having my nen storages sucked dry.

There was a quiet moment when Takuya searched the area for hints to where the werewolf leader might have gone. He shook his head after a while, confirming the fact that he couldn't find him.

Had we won this fight, or had we lost the war?

* * *

 **An**

Eh, not the best thing I've ever written.

I think I did okay with the fight scenes though, although they do lack the strategizing and complex Hatsu techniques that were previously present.

Tricia losing most of her abilities definitely didn't help either.

 **Next chapter is the last.**

Yay….


	27. -Departure-

**Chapter 27**

 **Killua's PoV**

The aftermath of the invasion was surprisingly melodramatic.

Almost right after he had taken down the puppet of Illumi, Cheriko had withdrawn her puppets and disappeared back to the outer world. This was certainly surprising, as Cheriko would have successfully taken over the Kaiko base if she had given herself more time.

The more surprising thing was the timing of Cheriko's departure and the main force's arrival.

Around 5 minutes after Cheriko had disappeared, Kelsi had appeared back in the realm with the main forces of the Kaikos behind her. The phone signal to the realm was terrible at best, and Kelsi had completely shut it down once Killua had arrived. There was no way that the Blood Reaper could have known about the timing of Kelsi's arrival, and she probably could have taken all of them down in those five minutes.

There was no doubt that there was something else going on, a bigger plot that he wasn't aware of. Cheriko's sudden departure, Kelsi's arrival…

"Killua?" Tricia said, calling out to him. Killua snapped out of his reverie, now focusing on the events at hand. "I heard that there was an invasion while we were gone. How was it?"

"Confusing." Killua replied honestly. There really wasn't another word that could describe what he was feeling right now. Between Cheriko and the invasions that had taken place in the last hour or so, Killua felt very much confused and in need of a nap.

"Same." Tricia replied with a sigh, running a hand through her hair and messing up her bandana so her cat ears were semi-visible. Not that she really cared though, Tricia hadn't exactly bothered with wearing a bandana when they were training because it was uncomfortable for her. "Okami disappeared in the middle of our fight, so that's one other thing that we have to worry about. He was injured pretty badly though, it's not likely that he'll be able to run too far."

"Okami and your fight?..." Killua said, trailing off at the end as his eyebrows furrowed. Tricia's face took on a sense of realization when she realized that he didn't know the details of the invasion.

"Kelsi said that Takuya and I were to fight Okami with her, not too sure why though because I was pretty useless throughout most of the fight. Although, I did use Reaper's Curse to injure Okami at the end." Tricia explained, Killua beginning to formulate an idea of what happened in his mind.

"I see, are you injured?" Killua replied with a tone of worry. Tricia had gone against the werewolf leader, after all.

"No, except for this cut that I don't remember getting." She replied, revealing a small puncture on her left wrist. "It definitely wasn't there before the invasion."

Killua leaned in closer, the cut somewhat reminded him of a needle injury, although it was slightly larger.

"That is strange…" Killua commented. There weren't a lot of people that used needle weapons, but, that injury could have been made by some sort of accident. "Oh yeah, I just remembered something. Isn't it kind of strange that Takuya wasn't paired up with…."

Killua paused for a moment. Wait, who was the person that Takuya was always paired up? Then again, as he thought it over, Takuya had always been a lone wolf.

He had, hadn't he?

"Ah, nevermind." Killua finished, brushing over his temporary lapse in memory. "I just misremembered something."

"Okay." Tricia replied nonchalant, moving to another train of thought. "Besides, what are the details of the invasion on your end? I didn't get a chance to hear it from anyone else yet."

-Line-

 **Okami's PoV**

-Line

The alleyway was silent except for the heavy breaths and trickling blood of the werewolf leader.

"That. Damned. Kaiko." Okami wheezed out between breaths. He was lucky enough to get away before he was finished off, but it looked like that wouldn't be enough. The blood loss from his wound was beginning to set in now. He had already exerted himself by teleporting too far in the heat of the moment, it wouldn't be long before he completely bled to death.

To think that the infamous leader of the werewolves would die of blood loss… That thought was too much for Okami to bear.

"..Damn it." Okami hissed, weakly slamming his hand against the wall. He paused for a moment, clutching his wound and then collapsing onto the floor.

The world was beginning to blur now, a side effect from nen overuse. Faintly, he could feel a nen signature just around the corner.

"...Cheriko?' He muttered, confused. What was the Blood Reaper doing here? Nevertheless, Okami was marginally relieved when he recognized the pinkette's nen signature, although he still was wary of her.

"Okami-kun?~" A distant voice chirped, not a dash of worry in her voice.

"...What?" Okami wheezed, a faint voice in the large alleyway.

Cheriko cocked her head playfully, coming into view. "Need me to heal you?" She offered. Okami was somewhat suspicious of her offer, although he know that she could heal, to some extent.

"...No." The werewolf leader put down. He never really thought of Cheriko of an ally, and he sure wasn't about to do so now.

Cheriko frowned, observing his critical condition. "C'mon, you can trust me~."

Okami gave the same answer, although this time, he was interrupted by a fit of coughs.

"Fine." Cheriko pouted, crossing her arms. "How 'bout I heal you in in your realm?"

Okami thought about it for a moment, although that moment was clouded with a stabbing pain and anxiety. He would have control of the situation, something that would make it difficult for Cheriko to betray him.

"...Okay." Okami coughed out, weakly raising his hand to open a portal. Cheriko smiled with glee when she saw the portal, pulling Okami into the realm behind her.

The polluted air of the city disappeared, but instead of a beautiful landscape white barren void took its place.

Okami partially relaxed when he felt Cheriko's nen pulling his wounds together. Partially because Cheriko didn't have as much experience with healing as someone like Katsu, his top medic.

"...What happened?" Okami said, his strength somewhat returning to him. Cheriko was slightly caught off guard from that question, although her temporary filter was not noticed by Okami.

"Everything went smoothly." She chirped, donning her mask once more while continuing to heal Okami. "Not many of the Kaikos were left in Kelsi's realm so taking control of the realm was easy-peasy. Now I just have to wait for Kelsi and her weakened forces to arrive. Of course, I'll make sure to capture most of them for you."

Okami was silent as he processed the information. Everything seemed to have gone somewhat according to plan, except for his near brush with death. Cheriko took control of the Kaiko's base while he engaged in combat with the main forces. When the Kaikos went back, Cheriko would ambush them….

Cheriko would ambush them.

What was Cheriko doing here?

The realization shot through Okami faster than a bullet could. How did Cheriko know where he would be? How did she expect him to appear injured? How-

"Seems like you've realized it." Cheriko commented, tone much darker and serious than before. Okami froze in place, a deer in the eyesight of an unstoppable monster.

"What-..." Okami was cut off by a blade to his neck. He could feel the metal pierce his skin, although it didn't go any further. There was a moment as the two of them waited in perfect silence. Okami in fear, Cheriko in murderous anticipation.

"Before you make some sort of half-hearted threat, I'd like you to know that I temporarily jammed your nen pathways." Cheriko continued in the same dark menacing tone. Okami froze as he realized that the constant hum of nen that was previously present was gone. Right now, he wasn't the werewolf leader, but a child hiding from his true self and running away from a bloodthirsty monster. "Any last words?" She offered, loosening the knife's grip on his throat.

"...Why did you bother to heal me?" Okami coughed out, his fear getting to him although his injuries were long gone.

Cheriko mused over his question carefully considering her response. Okami had noticed that Cheriko had put a considerable amount of effort in healing him, something that he doubted she would perform on a dying corpse. Cheriko could have easily gotten away with a messier job, especially with her lack of experience.

"You need an intact corpse for reanimating." Cheriko said with a malicious smile. As soon as Okami's eyes' widened when he realized what she was going to do, the Blood Reaper sunk the blade into his throat with expert precision, cutting his vocal cords and a major artery.

As blood pooled around the once-alive werewolf, Cheriko watched in satisfaction as her own plan was finally finished.

 _I'm coming home, nii-chan._

 _I'm coming home._

In the distance, alone and forgotten, was a single piece of paper.

 **Your silent army moves with the night.**

 **Bringing death upon the hunters of shadow.**

 **The traveler lays ruin to a castle of lies.**

 _ **Do not trust the life-bringer.**_

-Line-

 **Kelsi's PoV**

To the Kaikos, it seemed that there was only one option for the them. They would have to escape from the werewolves before they decided on a new leader.

But where to escape? There wasn't a place that they werewolves couldn't attack, even her realm wasn't safe anymore. Although, she did know that there was only one place where they could escape/

The Dark Continent, the Kaiko's original homeland.

Kelsi knew of the true story behind the Kaiko clan. 20 years ago, a rebellion within the Kaikos occurred. After a few months of dispute, the rebellion and main clan agreed to part ways. The rebellion would live in the New Continent, the place where they currently resided in. The main force would stay in the Dark Continent. At that time, the Kaikos were in a bitter rivalry against the werewolves, although the former was winning. When the rebellion went to the New Continent, the werewolves decided to follow the rebellion and farm them for their blood. They planned to use the blood from the rebellion against the main clan.

The werewolves had a partially succeeded in their goal. Now that there were only 40 Kaikos left, it wouldn't be long before they finished the rest of them off.

"Escape it is.." Kelsi said with a sigh, propping up her head with a hand. Although the next course of action was blatantly clear, she was still reluctant to do so. There was no doubt that the main clan of Kaikos would not take them with open arms, the opposite was much more likely.

It would be a hard life for them, but it wasn't as if they had any better options. Hopefully, the main clan would grow to accept them back over the course of a few years. And hopefully, this would be the last they heard of the werewolves.

But, even putting the main Kaiko clan aside, there were still the conditions of the Dark Continent itself to deal with. Most of the Kaikos would be okay because their power would be greatly increased simply by being in the in their home turf. But some others, like Rina, would have a difficult time because of their war injuries.

"...This is complicated." Kelsi stated, revealing the not-so-hidden truth. Every path was covered in thorns, some covered in death.

Although Kelsey knew that she should make the announcement for their departure as soon as possible, part of her still wanted to deny the ugly truth. Saying it now would break that serenity.

But with a heavy sigh, she began to tap into the minds of every Kaiko. The process was noticeably shorter than before, with several of the Kaikos dead and even more bedridden within injuries.

' _We will be leaving for the Dark Continent tomorrow morning.'_ She announced, feeling the despair of the entire clan as everything was set in stone. ' _I advised that if you need to leave the realm, do so this evening or night. All non-Kaikos will be left behind.'_

Although Kelsey hated to admit it, any non-Kaiko would perish in the Dark Continent. The exceptions for those who could survive the harsh life of the Dark Continent were few and far in-between. She highly doubted that Akiryuu or Killua could pull off such a feat.

"Now we just have to wait." Kelsey murmured to herself.

There was no turning back now. Or at least, no turning back that didn't involve certain death.

-Line-

 **Killua's PoV**

Killua wasn't too sure how to feel when Kelsi announced their next course of action.

There was just a part of him that refused to accept that he would never see the Kaikos again. Of course, he understood why they couldn't just bring him with them; the Dark Continent was far too brutal for humans and the Kaikos would be merging with a different clan of Kaikos.

Still, there was a part of him that was hopelessly lost. Gon was off in Greed Island, Kurapika was hunting down his clansmen's eyes, and Leorio was off studying for medical school.

All three of them had a goal, a reason to become a hunter, a purpose to keep living.

Killua had nothing.

Even after all this time, he was still trailing after someone's shadow. His rejection of his family was his attempt to start his own path, but before he knew it, he was chasing after his dead sister's shadow.

"Killua." A familiar voice called out to him. Killua turned around to see Tricia for the first time since the announcement for the Kaiko's departure.

"Yes?" He responded, feeling somewhat hollow.

"Kelsi wants to drop you off in the real world tonight." She announced, a shadow falling over her face. There was a moment of silence as the reality of the situation began to sink in. After tonight, his life would return to what it was before.

Except this time, he didn't have Gon to follow.

"There's someone that would be willing to let you learn under him." Tricia revealed. Killua looked up, not knowing what to expect.

"...What?" He responded. There wasn't any other response that seemed to suit the situation. On one hand, he wanted to take the offer. On the other hand, he didn't know if he would end up following someone else's footsteps again.

"You know the 'quack medic' that you met at Yorknew?" Tricia explained. Killua blinked, surprised at the randomness of the current situation. "His name is Katsu and he's Kurapika's older brother and was previously a spy for Kelsi. Now that the Kaikos are leaving, he faked his death and is now looking for something to do."

"...Huh." He replied. Learning how to heal… That was an option that he never really considered. All he really knew about medicine was that Leorio had to sell his Hunter License in order to get enough money to attend medical school, and the fact that Leorio wanted to become a doctor. Although Killua didn't want to be confined to a hospital for the rest of his life, what he had read about Katsu in the files Takuya had given him described his job as far from ordinary. "I see."

Becoming a battle/field medic sounded pretty cool to Killua, if he was to be honest. There was a terrifying quality about obtaining the power to either save a person from a fatal heart attack or cause a fatal heart attack.

It appealed to him.

"He'll be at Heaven's Arena tonight at 11pm." Tricia mentioned, Killua now brightening up at the prospect of becoming Katsu's student.

Maybe, there was still a chance for him to create his own path.

-Line-

 **Tricia's PoV**

 **2 am**

There was a peaceful moment in the silent night, a serenity that was the calm before the storm. In the dark city of Yorknew, a single light was on, illuminating the surroundings with a warm, earthly glow. The soft yet harsh fire of the lighter seemed oddly suited to the park it was in.

The light flickered on, then off, then on again.

"Hey, Kurapika." I said, making him both jump and turn around in surprise. Kurapika took a moment to realize that it was indeed me and not a stalker out for his skin. Once he did, his face morphed into one of both surprise and confusion. Only every so slightly, though. To anyone else it would seem that he remained emotionless.

The light stayed on.

"Tricia?" He said, recognizing me in the dim moonlight. I stepped out of the shadows, Kurapika not exactly knowing what to expect. Now that I think about it, Kurapika and my relationship was an interesting one. It wasn't exactly one of colleagues, perhaps a bit more closer, but it definitely didn't resemble the relationship of friends either.

"Kelsi's having us escape to the Dark Continent." I say, knowing that when dealing with Kurapika, it as just better to say things upfront. His face actually went blank and expressionless this time, as he probably didn't know how to respond.

"I assume that you will be departing for the Dark Continent shortly?" He inquired, his tone solemn. There was a moment as I briefly paused, somewhat reluctant to acknowledge the Kaiko's and my situation. I nodded in response.

"That's correct. I came here to tell you that." I respond, not really knowing what to say next. There was a moment as both of us were silent, the night peaceful except for the flickering of the lighter and the occasional cricket chirping.

It was nice, though. The silence between us was comfortable, as we had spent countless body guarding shifts in the same manner.

"I guess this is farewell, then." Kurapika stated in a matter-of-fact tone, although I could tell that he felt otherwise. There were subtle mannerisms, small details about Kurapika that one would only notice if they were a stalker or extremely perspective. I remembered that I only bothered to pay attention to these small things because of the increasingly boring shifts that we had to take, usually together due to the other bodyguard's intolerance of my strange habits.

"Indeed." I respond, the night falling to a standstill once more.

The silence was once more peaceful, and with a series exchanged glances, I left Yorknew for the gate.

-Line-

 **Departure**

39 other Kaikos lined up before the gate, Kelsi leading them with her council close behind.

At that moment, everything that had happened in the past half year seemed like decades ago. Just a few weeks ago, I was hunting down Phantom troupe members with Kurapika and slacking off on my bodyguarding job. Just earlier this year, I was completing the Hunter Exam with Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio. Dark

I will never forget the day I crashed down into that room in Trick Tower. Now that I think about it, I could have run into anyone else that day. Anyone else, and I would have never run into Killua. Anyone else, and I probably would have never run into Maktsia, or Katsu.

There was a sense of nostalgia as I remembered the simpler days. When Yuki and I joked about Tonpa, the second phase of the hunter exam, and my time at Zevil's Islands.

Now that I think about it, though. Those days were probably the most carefree ones I've lived since the first werewolf war. The time at the hunter exam was one place where I could get away from the constant reminder of Sakiris's death and my uselessness during the previous war.

 _Have I redeemed myself?_ I thought, praying, hoping, that Sakiris, Killuko, Shiro, and Yuki could hear me right now. _I used Reaper's Curse to injure Okami, was that enough? Did I avenge your deaths? Was I able to finally make a difference and change the outcome for the better?_

Whether or not my questions would be answered, I would only know when this war was over, when I could look back on my actions and decide if I had changed from the slacker that I was.

"This is goodbye." I murmured to myself as the looming gate began to open. There were still may, may, unfinished things that I still wish that I had the time to do. But, I knew that I had leave it all behind. "Goodbye, Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Leorio."

The gates shuddered to a halt, now wide open. For a moment, all 40 of us were dead silent, all 40 of us preparing themselves for the Dark Continent.

Beyond the gate, was my new life of unknowns. There was a moment that I hesitated, unwilling to let go of the life that I had lived for so long. There was a moment as the sheer _finality_ of the situation began to sink in. After this, there would be no more turning back, no more rewinds. Once I set foot in the Dark Continent, there was no returning back.

Before I could hesitate once more, I turned away from the illusion, and into the truth.

 **-The End-**

I thought it would be symbolic to end Illusion with some trivia about the beginnings of Illusion.

 **Trivia!**

Illusion was originally called Memories of a Long Lost Past and began with a scene with Rina, who was an otaku in our world. One day, her bus gets into a car crash and the moment she loses consciousness, she wakes up in Tricia's body with no recollection of her previous life.

In the first draft, Hikaoki was Tricia's only sister. Sakiris was later added.

Originally, draiknors and Kaikos were supposed to have opposite nen types. This is somewhat present in this version (Yuki - Transmuter, Tricia - Manipulator; Shiro - Emitter, Tricia - Conjuror; Hikaoki - Specialist, Angel - Enhancer (I never mentioned that Angel was a healer); Rina - Conjuror, Sakurami - Emitter). The pattern breaks with Yuki, who is a Transmuter, and Sakiris, an Enhancer.

The first five of Tricia's seven swords are each versions of Hatsus of people that were close to her. Raikori - Killuko, Aeolus - Sakiris, Hunter's Bane - Shiro, Reaper's Curse - Hikaoki, Crucifix - Yuki.

In the original, werewolves could only be injured using moonlight or silver. Kenshi, the blade of light, was made as an 'anti werewolf' sword.

Hikaoki was much much more powerful in the original. She originally had a Hatsu that allowed to set a limitation on a person. If that person broke their promise, a nen-Grim Reaper would kill the person most dear to them. Hikaoki had this ability along with her current one.

Takuya's original Hatsu was conjuring five stakes that when placed around an opponent in a pentagon, would render them unable to move.

I once considered giving Kelsi black hair shoulder-length hair, glasses, and making her the sister/cousin of Chrollo.

In the original, Tricia loses an eye in the war.

Kelsi was either going to die or lose an arm, I never fully decided, not even now.

A lot more people die in the original. Trust me on this.

There was going to be a prequel named "Darkness" (the first work in this story) and a sequel named "Truth", (the last).

Darkness goes over what happened to Tricia, Sakiris, and Hikaoki before they enter the Kaiko's realm. They are in some kind of training facility that exists in the 'void' between worlds. Hikaoki is only mentioned and never shown as she is trained separately. Cheriko was Tricia and Sakiris' friend. Pairo joins them.

There were a few references to this prequel. For example, in chapter 25 Hikaoki says (thinks really):

'That besides, it was still far too early to begin worrying about the ritual. Okami still had to be defeated, and if the message Takuya had received was correct, there would be a second enemy lurking in the darkness.'

Cheriko was in the prequel, and therefore 'darkness'. She is the second enemy so… bit of a reference there.

Truth is Illusion, but from Hikaoki's point of view. It begins at Hikaoki and Takuya's first meet with majority of it detailing the process of obtaining the keys and the secret plot holes that were never covered in Illusion. It ends a while after Illusion does because it is a sequel.

 **NOTE: If the idea of a prequel is popular enough, then I will write it. It'll be short though.**


End file.
